A 
STUDY 

PREJUDICES 


GEORGE  FA5TON 


1 


STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES 


BY 

GEORGE   PASTON 


fifeui. 


AUTHOR    OF    A    MODERN    AMAZON,    ETC. 


tL^'lM 


J 


'A  prejudice  is  a  fond,  obstinate  persuasion, 
for  which  we  can  give  no  reason." 


NEW    YORK 

D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 
1895 


COPYRIGHT,  1895, 
BY  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

JASPER  FLEMING,  the  now  celebrated  Royal  Acad- 
emician, whose  pictures  sell  even  in  the  hardest  times, 
and  whose  mannerisms  are  copied  by  so  many  admiring 
disciples,  owes  a  large  measure  of  his  success,  as  every 
one  knows,  to  the  fact  of  his  being  a  Shakespearean 
student  and  fanatic.  His  first  hit  was  made  with  a 
picture  called  "  Shakespeare's  First  Play,"  which  pur- 
ported to  be  a  representation  of  the  boy  Shakespeare's 
first  visit  to  the  theatre  at  Stratford-on-Avon,  when  he 
stood  between  his  father's  knees,  and  studied  the  antics 
of  the  strolling  players.  This  work  found  favour  in 
the  eyes  of  both  critics  and  public,  and  after  a  Royal 
personage  had  praised  it,  and  an  American  millionaire 
had  bought  it,  Fleming  found  himself  on  the  high  road 
to  fame  and  fortune.  He  was  clever  enough  to  follow 

up  his  success  with  a  series  of  pictures  illustrative  of 

i 


2133097 


2  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

scenes  or  incidents  in  his  idol's  work,  and  his  reputa- 
tion increased  year  by  year.  But  he  did  not  only  paint 
Shakespearean  subjects ;  he  also  devoted  much  time 
and  thought  to  a  study  of  the  poet  both  as  man  and 
artist.  He  groped  his  way  along  tortuous  paths,  made 
dark  by  many  commentators,  stirred  up  the  dry  bones 
of  forgotten  controversies,  and  added  his  quota  to  the 
long  list  of  attempts  to  disentangle  hopeless  knots  and 
solve  insoluble  problems.  Needless  to  say,  like  all  true 
Shakespeare  lovers  he  was  also  given  to  the  fascinating 
though  delusive  quest  of  autobiographical  hints  and 
details  in  both  plays  and  poems. 

As  a  result  of  these  studies  he  had  conceived  the 
theory  that  the  poet,  at  some  period  of  his  career,  had 
loved  a  woman  called  Eose,  and  that  she  was  not  the 
dark-eyed,  false-hearted  heroine  of  the  later  sonnets, 
but  the  original  from  whom  some  of  his  most  exquisite 
portraits  of  womanhood  were  drawn,  namely  the  four 
masquerading  heroines,  Rosalind,  Viola,  Portia  and 
Imogen.  In  these  characters  he  fancied  he  could  trace, 
more  or  less  distinctly,  variations  of  the  same  feminine 
type,  a  beautiful  creature  in  the  spring-tide  of  life, 
fearless,  quick-witted,  and  resourceful,  combining  the 
daring  and  impetuosity  of  a  high-spirited  youth  with 
the  passionate  tenderness  and  self-abnegation  of  a  true 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  3 

woman.  He  further  believed,  whatever  English  or 
German  critics  might  say  to  the  contrary,  that  some  of 
the  love-letters  in  sonnet  form  were  addressed  to  the 
poet's  true  love  Rose,  and  not  to  a  male  friend  or  to  an 
unfaithful  mistress.  This  pretty  little  theory  was  of 
course  based  on  no  better  evidence  than  that  which  a 
vivid  imagination  could  supply,  but  it  was  at  least  not 
more  absurd  than  the  theories  of  those  who  hold  that 
the  sonnets  are  addressed  to  Pure  Reason  or  to  William 
himself,  and  assert  that  the  dark-eyed  lady  is  either  the 
Catholic  Church  or  the  Bride  of  the  Canticles. 

At  the  time  this  story  opens,  when  Jasper  was  about 
eight-and- thirty,  and  still  only  an  Associate,  he  had 
long  cherished  the  ambition  of  illustrating  his  pet 
theory  by  a  picture  called  "  Shakespeare's  Rose."  In 
this  work  the  imaginary  sweetheart  was  to  be  repre- 
sented playing  the  spinet,  with  roses  in  her  bosom  and 
her  hair,  while  the  picture  was  to  have  for  a  motto  the 
lines,  from  the  108th  Sonnet : 

"For  nothing  this  wide  universe  I  call, 
Save  thou,  my  Rose,  in  it  thou  art  my  all." 

Jasper  had  managed  to  secure  a  professedly  Elizabeth 
spinet,  and  he  could  call  roses  from  the  South  of 
France  even  in  the  depths  of  winter,  but  for  the  face 
and  form  of  the  Rose  herself  he  had  hitherto  sought 


4  A  STUDY  IX  PREJUDICES. 

vainly  among  the  models  at  his  disposal,  both  profes- 
sional and  amateur. 

At  length,  at  an  evening  party  at  the  house  of  his 
friend  Mrs.  Marchmont,  just  as  he  had  decided  to  bid 
his  hostess  good-night,  he  caught  sight  of  a  face  that 
made  him  promptly  relinquish  his  intention.  He  stood 
still  with  a  beating  heart,  while  his  eyes  took  in  every 
detail  of  the  picture  that  had  arrested  him.  A  tall  fig- 
ure with  the  short  waist  and  long  limbs  of  a  young 
Diana,  a  small  head  set  buoyantly  upon  the  full  white 
throat,  dark  grey  eyes  placed  well  apart,  a  mouth  of 
gracious  curves,  and  a  chin  that  was  not  a  meaningless 
end  to  the  face,  but  a  finely-modelled  feature  in  itself, 
made  up  a  whole  that  caused  Jasper  to  exclaim  half 
aloud,  "  My  Rose,"  and  sent  him  off,  as  soon  as  he  had 
gazed  his  fill,  to  seek  his  hostess. 

"  Who  is  that  tall  girl  in  black  standing  by  the 
piano?"  he  asked  eagerly,  when  he  had  detached 
the  lady  of  the  house  from  the  group  of  which  she 
was  the  centre. 

"  That  is  Cecily  Tregarthen,  a  great  favourite  of 
mine,"  replied  Mrs.  Marchmont,  smiling  at  his  impetu- 
osity. "  Her  father  and  mine  were  brother-officers, 
and  I  have  known  her  ever  since  she  was  a  child." 

"  I   want  you   to    introduce    me    to  her  directly, 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  5 

please,"  he  went  on.  "  I  must  have  her  head — no,  I 
must  have  the  whole  of  her.  I  have  been  hunting 
for  her  for  months.  Where  does  she  come  from  ? 
Has  she  any  people?" 

"  Her  father  had  a  staff  appointment  at  Chatham, 
but  he  died  rather  more  than  a  year  ago,  and  left  his 
family  little  better  than  paupers.  Cecily  and  her 
sisters  and  brother  live  in  London  now,  and  work  for 
their  bread." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  girl  works  ?  "  demanded 
Jasper  indignantly.  "  She  ought  to  be  paid  a  hand- 
some salary  for  ornamenting  this  hideous  city.  What 
does  she  do  ?  " 

"  Something  in  your  line.  She  paints  Christmas 
cards,  designs  fashion  advertisements,  and  is  trying 
to  get  a  footing  in  the  cheaper  illustrated  papers. 
Madge,  the  eldest  sister,  has  a  typewriter,  that  genteel 
substitute  for  a  mangle,  and  Kate,  the  second,  writes 
for  a  sweating  newspaper.  The  boy,  Peter,  only  left 
school  a  few  months  ago,  and  he  has  not  yet  succeeded 
in  finding  anything  to  do." 

"  What  an  emotional  creature  it  is,"  broke  in  Jas- 
per, who  had  been  too  much  occupied  in  gazing  at 
Miss  Tregarthen  to  pay  much  attention  to  this  ex- 
planation. "  She  blushes  whenever  she  speaks,  and 


6  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

the  tears  rush  to  her  eyes  each  time  she  laughs.  And 
only  look  at  her  dear  chin ;  it  is  shaped  like  a  little 
fig.  She  must  be  a  survival  of  some  old-world  type, 
for  she  makes  all  the  other  girls  look  either  blowsy  or 
anaemic." 

Mrs.  Marchmont  laughed.  She  and  Jasper  were 
very  good  friends,  and  she  was  quite  accustomed  to  his 
sudden  ardours  and  enthusiasms.  Since  his  rapid  rise 
to  fame  he  had  been  spoken  of  admiringly  as  "  quite  a 
character,"  whereas,  in  the  days  of  his  obscurity,  his 
acquaintances  had  contented  themselves  with  saying 
that  Fleming  was  rather  queer.  The  truth  was,  there 
was  more  of  the  natural  man  about  Jasper  than  the 
world  altogether  approves,  except  in  the  case  of  a  celeb- 
rity. He  had  no  idea  of  posing  as  an  eccentric,  but 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  saying  what  he  thought,  and, 
so  far  as  he  could,  doing  what  he  liked.  His  spirits 
varied  between  the  abnormally  high  and  the  abysmally 
low,  and  as  he  seldom  dissembled  his  feelings,  it  was 
only  to  be  expected  that  he  should  be  something  of 
an  enigma  to  the  more  conventional  among  his 
friends. 

"  I'll  introduce  you  to  Cecily  as  soon  as  I  can  get 
her  away  from  her  admirers,"  said  Mrs.  Marchmont. 
"  But  I  warn  you  to  look  to  your  heart.  Cecily  doesn't 


A  STUDY  IX  PREJUDICES.  7 

mean  to  be  naughty,  but  she  can't  help  being  charm- 
ing, and  more  than  one  man  whom  I  have  introduced 
to  her  has  no  reason  to  thank  me." 

"  You  needn't  fear  for  me.  I  am  long  past  the 
combustible  age." 

"  Ah,  but  there  are  two  combustible  periods 
in  every  man's  life,  and  you  may  be  approaching  the 
second." 

"  "Well,  I'm  willing  to  take  all  risks.  She  must  and 
shall  sit  to  me,  even  if  I  have  to  abduct  her  forcibly 
from  her  home." 

"  Let  us  hope  no  such  violent  measures  will  be 
necessary.  Now  I  have  caught  her  eye,  and  she  is  com- 
ing towards  us." 

The  introduction  took  place,  and  the  artist  was  de- 
lighted to  find  that  Miss  Tregarthen  gave  herself  none 
of  the  airs  of  a  beauty,  but  was  perfectly  simple  and 
unaffected.  Encouraged  by  her  friendliness,  he  ven- 
tured, after  a  little  talk  upon  indifferent  topics,  to  ex- 
press a  hope  that  she  would  come  and  see  his  studio 
some  day. 

"  I  shall  be  delighted,"  she  said,  her  face  lighting 
up  with  pleasure.  "  I  have  never  been  to  a  distin- 
guished artist's  studio.  The  few  painters  I  know  are 
still  hopping  about,  trying  to  get  one  foot  on  the  first 


8  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

rung  of  the  ladder.  May  I  bring  one  of  my  sisters 
with  me?" 

"  Of  course,"  he  replied.  "  Pray  bring  them  both, 
if  they  care  to  come.  I  have  a  sister  too,  whom  I 
should  like  to  introduce  to  you.  She  is  a  chronic  in- 
valid, poor  thing,  and  obliged  always  to  lie  on  her 
back." 

"  How  dreadfully  sad,"  said  Miss  Tregarthen  sym- 
pathetically. "  Has  she  been  ill  long  ?  " 

Before  he  could  reply  they  were  joined  by  a  good- 
looking  though  rather  overblown  young  woman  of 
seven  or  eight-and- twenty,  who  broke  in  upon  their 
conversation  with  the  remark  : 

"  It  is  time  to  go,  Cecily.  Our  cab  is  at  the 
door." 

Thereupon  Jasper  was  introduced  to  the  elder  Miss 
Tregarthen,  the  invitation  to  the  studio  was  repeated, 
and  it  was  agreed  that  the  visit  should  take  place  on 
the  following  Sunday. 

That  visit  was  a  complete  success  from  Jasper's 
point  of  view.  After  tea  he  contrived  to  draw  Cecily 
aside  under  the  pretext  of  showing  her  some  pen  and 
ink  sketches,  explained  (at  considerable  length)  the 
subject  of  his  next  picture,  and  finally  made  his  request 
for  sittings. 


A  STUDY  IX  PREJUDICES.  9 

"Oh,  but  do  you  think  I  should  really  do?"  ex- 
claimed Miss  Tregarthen.  "  It  seems  so  presumptuous 
to  sit  for  the  portrait  of  even  an  imaginary  sweetheart 
of  Shakespeare's." 

"  I  am  sure  you  will  do  beautifully,"  he  said,  smil- 
ing. "And  Shakespeare  would  have  been  a  lucky 

fellow  to  have "  he  stopped  abruptly,  feeling  that, 

considering  the  shortness  of  their  acquaintance,  he 
was  going  too  fast.  But  Miss  Tregarthen  did  not  seem 
at  all  embarrassed. 

"Lucky  to  have  me  for  a  sweetheart?"  she  said 
composedly.  "I'm  afraid  he  would  not  have  agreed 
with  you.  He  preferred  a  lady  with  black  silk  hair 
and  mourning  eyes." 

"  Oh,  but  she  was  his  evil  genius,"  put  in  Jasper 
eagerly.  "  His  feeling  for  his  real  love,  for  Rose,  must 
have  been  of  a  very  different  kind.  He  probably 
regarded  her  with  the  mixture  of  chivalrous  homage 
and  passionate  devotion  that  a  man  only  feels  for  the 
creature  who  is  at  once  his  guardian  angel  and  his 
earthly  love." 

"  How  very  trying  for  Rose,"  remarked  Cecily 
meditatively.  "  If  a  man  regarded  me  in  that  sort 
of  way  I  should  live  in  perpetual  terror  lest  he 
should  see  me  with  a  cold  in  my  head  or  a  black  on 


10  A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES. 

my  nose,  which  would  of  course  quite  destroy  the 
illusion." 

Jasper  laughed,  and  told  himself  that  Miss  Tre- 
garthen  seemed  a  jolly  sort  of  a  girl  with  no  primness 
or  prudery  about  her.  The  remembrance  of  what 
Mrs.  March  mont  had  said  about  his  new  model's 
circumstances  came  back  to  his  mind,  and  he  won- 
dered whether  he  could  make  her  any  return  for  her 
services. 

"  I  feel  rather  unhappy  about  wasting  so  much  of 
your  time,"  he  said.  "  I  was  going  to  ask  you  for  a 
whole  morning  at  least  once  a  week." 

"  You  needn't  distress  yourself  about  that,"  she 
replied,  "for  though  I  am  a  working  woman  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  my  time  has  a  very  small  market 
value  at  present." 

"  I  hear  that  you  are  a  sister  of  the  brush,"  he  went 
on,  a  happy  thought  striking  him.  "  I  shall  be  very 
pleased  if  you  will  allow  me  to  give  you  a  little  instruc- 
tion in  return  for  the  sittings." 

"You  couldn't  suggest  anything  I  should  like 
better,"  she  said.  "But  I  should  feel  that  you  were 
paying  your  model  much  too  highly." 

"  You  wouldn't  think  so  if  you  knew  how  long  and 
vainly  I  have  sought  for  her.  Besides,  I  really  enjoy 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  H 

teaching,  and  I  am  sure  you  would  prove  an  apt 
pupil." 

"  How  can  you  possibly  tell  ?  "  she  laughed.  "  Do 
I  bear  the  mark  of  genius  on  my  brow  ?  " 

It  was  finally  arranged  that  for  the  present  Cecily 
should  go  twice  a  week  to  the  studio,  once  for  a  sitting 
and  once  for  a  lesson,  it  being  understood  that  the 
artist's  invalid  sister  would  act  as  chaperon  on  these 
occasions. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THREE  months  later,  on  a  bleak  March  afternoon, 
Cecily  Tregarthen  was  making  her  way  in  the  teeth  of 
an  east  wind  to  Mr.  Fleming's  house  in  Wisteria  Eoad, 
St.  John's  Wood.  The  cold  blast  cut  through  her  thin, 
shabby  jacket,  numbed  her  fingers  in  their  oft-mended 
gloves,  rasped  her  nerves  and  slightly  affected  her  tem- 
per. For  it  must  here  be  confessed  that  Miss  Tre- 
garthen, however  well  she  might  look  the  part,  was  not 
a  heroine  at  all  in  the  usual  sense  of  the  word,  but  only 
a  very  human  girl  with,  thanks  to  an  erratic  bringing 
up,  rather  more  than  the  average  girl's  share  of 
thoughtlessness  and  folly.  No  doubt,  had  there  been 
any  necessity  for  such  a  course,  she  would  not  have  ob- 
jected to  masquerading  in  boys'  clothes,  or  to  taking 
advantage  of  a  legal  quibble  to  best  a  bloodthirsty  Jew, 
but  as  it  was,  she  had  no  opportunity  of  doing  any- 
thing more  heroic  than  flirting  and  dancing  with  any 

Orlando  or  Bassanio  who  might  come  in  her  way. 

12 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  13 

It  was  like  stepping  into  a  new  world  to  quit  the 
grey  windy  street  and  enter  Mr.  Fleming's  studio,  with 
its  blazing  fire,  warm  rugs,  sunlit  landscapes  on  the 
walls,  and  bowls  of  daffodils  in  every  nook  and  corner. 
The  owner  of  the  studio  himself  was  a  picturesque  fig- 
ure, with  his  brown  handsome  face,  bright  eyes,  and 
thick,  dark  hair,  just  touched  with  grey. 

"You  poor  dear,"  exclaimed  Jasper,  coming  for- 
ward with  outstretched  hands  to  greet  his  visitor. 
"  You  look  as  if  you  were  frozen  perfectly  stiff.  Come 
here  and  let  me  thaw  you  before  you  attempt  to 
speak." 

"You  talk  as  if  I  were  a  joint  of  New  Zealand  mut- 
ton," said  Cecily,  with  a  little  laugh,  but  she  permitted 
her  host  to  establish  her  in  an  easy-chair  by  the  fire, 
draw  off  her  gloves,  and  warm  her  hands  between  his 
own.  For  a  few  moments  she  lay  back  in  her  chair, 
and  allowed  the  warmth  and  perfume  to  steal  over  her 
senses,  and  render  her  oblivious  of  the  chill  outer 
world.  The  man  at  her  side  and  his  caressing  atten- 
tions were  no  more  to  her  than  the  fire  and  the  daffo- 
dils, though  by  gratifying  her  vanity  and  soothing  her 
self-love,  they  put  the  finishing  touch  to  her  sense  of 
satisfaction  and  well-being. 

She  was  roused  from   the  delicious  lethargy  into 


14  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

which  she  had  fallen  by  the  consciousness  that  her 
companion  had  raised  her  hand  to  his  lips,  and  was 
pressing  kisses  on  the  palm. 

"  We  are  wasting  a  great  deal  of  time,"  she  ob- 
served, getting  up  from  her  chair.  "  Isn't  your  sister 
coming  in  ?  " 

"  Presently,"  he  said  ;  "  but  you  needn't  be  such  a 
prickly  rose.  I  was  only  studying  '  the  tender  inward 
of  your  hand.' " 

"  It  is  not  the  turn  for  a  sitting  to-day.  You  are  to 
criticise  my  new  drawings." 

"Ah,  you  were  much  nicer  to  me  the  last  time 
you  came.  You  quite  forgot  to  ask  where  Dulcie 
was." 

"  That  was  because  it  was  your  birthday,"  she  an- 
swered, blushing  slightly.  "  I  couldn't  be  cross  to  you 
on  such  an  auspicious  occasion." 

"No,  you  were  very  sweet,  dearest,  and  you  gave 
me  the  nicest  birthday  present  I  ever  had  in  my 
life." 

"  You  mean  you  took  it,"  said  Cecily,  trying  to  look 
severe.  "  And  you  know  I  don't  like  you  to  call  me 
dearest." 

"But  it  doesn't  mean  anything  from  me,"  he 
returned  carelessly.  "  It  is  only  one  of  my  engag- 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  15 

ing  little  ways.  Now  let  me  see  your  latest  chef 
d'cenvre." 

He  opened  the  girl's  portfolio,  and  glanced  over  its 
contents. 

"  What  on  earth  is  this?"  he  inquired,  holding  up  a 
pen  and  ink  sketch. 

"Ah,  that  is  my  last  success,"  said  Cecily,  with 
pride.  "It  is  a  design  for  the  advertisement  of  the 
Empress  Velvet.  Don't  you  see  that  it  represents  a 
girl,  and  a  very  pretty  girl  too,  wearing  a  gown  of  Em- 
press velvet,  and  sitting  on  a  sofa  with  an  obviously  de- 
voted young  man.  At  a  little  distance  is  another  girl, 
not  so  pretty  or  so  well  dressed,  who  is  sitting  all  alone, 
and  saying  to  herself,  '  I  wish  I  had  a  frock  of  the  Em- 
press velvet.'  The  manager  was  so  pleased  with  the  de- 
sign that  he  said  he  would  give  me  a  guinea  for  it,  if  I 
would  work  it  up  a  little  more." 

"  Bah,  the  idea  of  your  wasting  your  talent  and  im- 
agination on  such  trash,"  said  Fleming  impatiently. 
"  Several  of  these  things  are  really  charming  in  the 
rather  niggling  style  that  seems  inherent  in  every  fem- 
inine artist.  You  ought  to  work  more  with  charcoal, 
and  try  to  acquire  a  broader  method.  With  proper 
training  and  more  practice  you  should  make  your  mark 
in  black  and  white." 


16  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  I  do  like  you  when  you  talk  like  that,"  said  the 
girl,  flushing  with  pleasure.  "  Now  give  me  something 
to  do  to  improve  my  niggling  style." 

Jasper  brought  out  a  cast  of  a  piece  of  frieze,  and 
having  provided  his  pupil  with  charcoal  and  paper, 
amused  himself  by  making  a  rough  sketch  of  her  bent 
head  and  serious  expression  as  she  sat  at  work.  Cecily 
was  still  occupied  with  her  drawing  when  the  door 
opened,  and  Miss  Fleming  was  wheeled  in  on  her  re- 
clining-chair.  She  was  a  plain  woman,  a  year  or  two 
older  than  her  brother,  with  coarse  features  and 
swarthy  complexion,  while  her  appearance  was  not  im- 
proved by  the  peevish,  discontented  lines  about  her 
mouth.  Her  face  brightened  as  she  greeted  her  visitor, 
for  between  the  two  women,  so  dissimilar  in  age,  ap- 
pearance, and  circumstances,  an  odd  kind  of  friend- 
ship had  sprung  up.  Miss  Fleming  had  been  attracted 
from  the  first  by  the  young  girl  who  possessed  all  that 
she  herself  lacked,  but  who  was  neither  spoilt  nor  ar- 
rogant, while  Cecily  on  her  part  was  sorry  for  the  irri- 
table, unattractive  invalid,  and  always  took  her  captious 
humours  in  good  part. 

"  Tea  will  be  ready  directly,"  said  Miss  Fleming. 
"Jasper,  as  you  have  had  Cecily  to  yourself  all  this 
time,  and  as  you  never  take  tea,  you  might  as  well  go 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  17 

for  a  walk  now,  and  leave  us  to  have  our  gossip  undis- 
turbed by  fear  of  your  masculine  criticism." 

Her  brother  looked  a  little  taken  aback  at  this  sug- 
gestion, but  as  he  was  accustomed  to  allow  the  invalid 
her  own  way  in  all  minor  matters,  and  as  she  was  capa- 
ble of  making  things  unpleasant  for  him  if  he  stayed, 
he  thought  it  better  to  accede  to  her  request. 

"  Very  well,"  he  said  reluctantly.  "  But  first  I 
have  to  break  a  sad  piece  of  news  to  my  pupil.  Get 
your  handkerchief  ready,  Miss  Tregarthen.  The  mel- 
ancholy fact  is  that  I  am  going  to  Paris  to-morrow  for 
a  fortnight,  or  possibly  three  weeks." 

"  That  is  indeed  a  blow,"  answered  Cecily  with 
mock  seriousness.  "  I  need  scarcely  say  that  I  shall 
count  the  days  till  you  come  back.  Meanwhile  I  will 
be  very  industrious,  and  do  a  number  of  charcoal 
studies  to  surprise  you  with  on  your  return." 

"When  Jasper  had  left  the  room  Miss  Fleming 
turned  and  asked  abruptly: 

"  Cecily,  do  you  mean  to  marry  my  brother? " 

"  I !  Xo,"  replied  the  girl,  laughing.  "  My  in- 
tentions are  no  more  serious  than  his  own." 

"  That  is  prevarication.  You  know  perfectly  well 
that  you  could  marry  him  if  you  chose.  But  if  you 
don't  mean  to  take  him  you  ought  not  to  lead  him  on, 


18  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

and  encourage  him  in  the  way  you  are  doing.  He  has 
had  quite  troubles  enough  in  his  life  without  another 
unfortunate  love  affair  being  added  to  the  list." 

"  But  I  don't  believe  he  has  ever  thought  of  fall- 
ing in  love  with  me,"  pleaded  Cecily.  "  He  looks  upon 
me  as  part  pupil,  part  playfellow,  for  he  scolds  or 
teases  me  nearly  all  the  time.  Besides,  he  has  told  me 
all  about  his  first  engagement,  and  shown  me  the  girl's 
photograph." 

"  Oh,  yes,  Jasper  finds  his  broken  heart  very  use- 
ful when  he  wants  to  get  on  confidential  terms  with  a 
woman,"  observed  Miss  Fleming.  "  But  the  mere  fact 
that  he  scolds  and  teases  you  shows  that  he  is  in 
danger.  If  he  meant  nothing  he  would  be  much  more 
sentimental." 

"  That  sounds  like  a  saying  of  Oscar  Wilde's,"  said 
Cecily,  who  was  beginning  to  feel  uncomfortable. 
"  Well,  what  do  you  wish  me  to  do  ?  " 

"  Leave  Jasper  alone,  if  you  think  there  is  no 
chance  of  your  ever  caring  for  him." 

"  I  like  him  very  much,"  said  Cecily  frankly.  "  He 
has  been  very  kind  to  me,  and  he  amuses,  interests, 
and  puzzles  me.  I  really  almost  wonder  that  I  haven't 
lost  my  heart  to  him.  But  I  fancy  that  in  some  ways 
we  are  too  much  alike  ;  we  are  both  rather  easy-going 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  19 

and  self-indulgent.  I  think  we  ought  to  marry  to 
better  ourselves  from  a  moral  point  of  view — to  choose 
someone  who  will  give  us  more  ballast  and  keep  us  in 
order." 

"  Well,  don't  play  with  Jasper  if  you  don't  con- 
sider him  good  enough  for  you,"  said  Miss  Fleming 
brusquely.  "  I  shall  miss  your  visits  very  much,  but 
naturally  my  brother  must  come  first,  and  I  consider 
myself  especially  responsible  for  his  peace  of  mind 
because  I  broke  off  his  first  engagement.  Did 
he  tell  you  about  that  among  his  other  confi- 
dences ?  " 

"  No ;  he  has  never  said  a  word  about  you  that  was 
not  kind  and  brotherly." 

"  Well,  I'll  tell  you  the  story,  because  it  will  show 
you  why  I  feel  bound  to  try  and  save  him  from  further 
unhappiness.  Besides,  I'm  not  ashamed  of  it;  I  did 
it  for  his  sake  as  well  as  my  own,  and  it  has  all  turned 
out  for  the  best.  I  have  already  told  you  something 
about  my  girlhood,  how  I  was  always  ugly,  uglier  than 
I  am  now,  and  how  my  mother  never  could  be  brought 
to  realise  it." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  girl  in  some  embarrassment.  "  But 
if  people  are  nice  and  kind  one  doesn't  think  about 
their  looks." 


20  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  Doesn't  one  ? "  returned  Miss  Fleming  drily. 
"  You  may  not,  but  the  world  in  general  does.  When 
1  was  a  child  I  used  to  be  told  that  if  I  was  good  every- 
one would  love  me,  but  when  I  grew  up  I  found  that 
to  be  one  of  the  many  pleasant  fallacies  we  are  taught 
in  childhood.  Unfortunately,  my  mother,  who  had 
been  a  beauty  herself,  had  made  up  her  mind  that  I 
was  to  be  lovely  and  charming.  That  was  why  she 
called  me  Dulcibella,  and  she  never  could  understand 
why  people  sometimes  smiled  when  they  heard  my 
name.  As  soon  as  I  was  eighteen  I  was  dressed  up 
like  other  girls,  and  taken  to  dances  and  parties  of  all 
kinds.  Ah,  you  can  have  no  idea  what  sufferings 
society  can  inflict  upon  a  plain  and  unattractive  girl. 
I  had  just  as  much  craving  for  pleasure,  admiration, 
yes,  and  love  too,  as  the  prettiest  girl  in  London,  but 
at  all  the  parties  I  went  to  I  had  to  sit  neglected  and 
forgotten  among  the  elderly  women,  or  to  console  my- 
self with  another  social  failure  like  myself.  At  dances 
I  used  to  think  myself  lucky  if  three  charitable  men 
could  be  found  by  my  hostess  to  bestow  three  duty 
dances  upon  me.  Even  other  girls  avoided  me,  for,  let 
people  say  what  they  will,  it  is  the  pretty  women 
who  have  the  most  women  friends.  An  ugly  woman 
is  treated  by  her  feminine  acquaintances  much  in  the 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  21 

same  manner  as  a  wounded  deer  is  treated  by  the  rest 
of  the  herd." 

"  Oh,  don't  say  that,"  exclaimed  Cecily,  her  eyes 
filling  with  tears.  "  I  can't  bear  to  think  of  anyone 
being  made  so  unhappy." 

"  Well,  suffering  of  that  kind  doesn't  generally  get 
much  sympathy,  because  it  has  not  any  of  the  dignity 
of  a  great  grief.  It  is  only  the  result  of  the  social  law 
which  decrees  that  women  of  the  upper  classes  must  all 
lead,  or  appear  to  lead,  exactly  the  same  manner  of  life. 
We  are  all  expected  to  dance  and  enjoy  ourselves  in  our 
youth,  to  marry  and  have  children  in  due  course,  and 
to  occupy  ourselves  thenceforward  in  housewifely  and 
maternal  duties.  That  man-made  law  does  not  take 
into  account  the  fact  that  there  are  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  women  who  never  have  the  opportunity 
of  dancing  and  enjoying  themselves,  still  less  of 
marrying  and  having  children.  It  even  denies  to 
the  vast  majority  of  these  poor  social  failures  the 
only  antidote  to  human  sorrow  and  disappointment — 
work." 

"  But  you  have  great  artistic  talent,  judging  from 
your  sketches,"  put  in  Cecily.  "  I  wonder  you  did  not 
devote  yourself  to  art." 

"  That  is  just  what  I  longed  to  do,  and  when  we 


22  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

were  boy  and  girl  my  drawings  were  said  to  show  more 
promise  than  Jasper's.  But  my  mother  could  not 
afford  to  give  us  both  lessons,  and  all  the  money  she 
could  spare  was  spent  on  Jasper's  training.  Then  so 
much  of  my  time  was  taken  up  in  paying  calls,  trim- 
ming hats,  and  arranging  flowers  that  I  could  only  have 
worked  at  my  drawing  in  a  desultory  amateurish  way 
and  I  love  it  too  well  to  turn  it  into  a  mere  pastime. 
If  I  could  have  cultivated  my  talent  I  believe  that  I 
should  now  be  a  healthy,  contented  woman.  However, 
you  will  ask  what  all  this  has  to  do  with  Jasper's  love 
affair.  I  am  coming  to  that,  but  I  wanted  you  to 
understand  what  sort  of  a  life  I  had  led  before  I 
meddled  with  his.  When  I  was  about  eight-and- 
twenty  my  back  began  to  trouble  me.  Polite  doctors 
said  it  was  spinal  neuralgia,  and  rude  doctors  said  it 
was  hysteria,  but  whatever  it  may  have  been,  not  one 
of  them  was  able  to  do  me  any  good.  Before  I  became 
quite  an  invalid  my  mother  died,  and  it  was  settled 
that  I  should  go  and  keep  house  for  Jasper.  We  had 
not  been  in  our  new  home  three  mouths,  however, 
before  he  became  engaged  to  a  pretty,  heartless,  empty- 
headed  girl.  She  disliked  me  because  I  was  ugly,  and 
I  knew  that  Jasper  would  be  completely  lost  to  me  if 
he  married  her.  There  was  nothing  before  me  but  life 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  23 

in  a  cheap  boarding-house  or  a  lonely  lodging.  I  felt 
sure  the  girl  would  make  him  miserable,  and  for  both 
our  sakes  I  determined  to  break  off  the  match.  As  you 
know,  I  accomplished  my  purpose ;  it  is  not  necessary 
to  tell  you  how  I  did  it." 

"  Did  your  brother  find  out  that  it  was  your  do- 
ing ?  "  asked  Cecily. 

"Yes,  unluckily  he  did.  He  was  very  unhappy 
and  very  angry  with  me  for  a  long  time.  He  went 
abroad  for  a  year,  so  that  I  had  to  go  into  a  boarding- 
house  after  all.  By  the  time  he  came  back  the  girl 
had  married  someone  else,  and  I  had  become  a  helpless 
invalid.  He  came  to  see  me,  forgave  me,  and  took 
me  to  live  with  him  again.  So  now  you  see  why  I  am 
so  anxious  to  save  him  an  unnecessary  heartache.  I 
should  not  mind  your  marrying  him,  because  I  think 
you  would  make  him  happy,  and  I  am  sure  you  would 
not  treat  me  as  if  I  were  a  female  pariah.  But  don't 
flirt  with  him,  Cecily." 

"  I  think  he  can  play  at  that  game  as  well  as  I,"  an- 
swered the  girl.  "  However,  if  you  really  believe  that 
he  is  more  in  earnest  than  he  appears,  the  sittings  had 
better  come  to  an  end.  He  has  made  scores  of  studies 
of  me,  and  the  picture  is  practically  finished." 

"Yes,  and  you   see   he  is  going  away  for  two  or 


24  A   STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

three  weeks.  When  he  returns,  come  once  more  to  give 
him  a  final  sitting,  and  bid  him  good-bye.  You  can 
say  that  you  cannot  spare  the  time  to  continue  your 
visits.  I  dare  say  it  is  better  for  you  that  you  should 
have  no  more  to  do  with  us ;  we  are  an  unlucky  fam- 
ily, and  generally  bring  ill  luck  on  any  one  who  is 
connected  with  us." 

"  Well,  you  have  brought  me  nothing  but  good 
luck,"  said  Cecily.  "  I  have  learnt  a  great  deal  from 
your  brother,  and  you  have  been  very  kind  to  me." 

"  Ah,  but  you  can  never  depend  upon  us,"  said  the 
invalid  in  the  tone  of  one  who  takes  a  morbid  pride  in 
a  family  failing.  "  There  is  dark  blood  in  us,  you 
know ;  our  great  grandmother  was  a  beautiful  half- 
caste.  I  suppose  I  inherit  the  features  of  one  of  her 
most  unprepossessing  relations,  but  Jasper  does  not 
show  the  taint  at  all  except  in  his  finger-nails.  Still, 
there  is  an  uncivilised  strain  in  both  of  us,  and  we  are 

not  always  to  be  trusted.     So  I  warn  you  to  be  careful 

- 

in  your  dealings  with  us." 

"  I  am  not  afraid,"  said  Cecily,  laughing.  "  I  must 
say  good-bye  now,  but  I  shall  come  and  see  you  while 
your  brother  is  away,  because  I  know  you  will  be  lonely 
without  him." 


CHAPTER  III. 

ON  leaving  the  studio  Cecily  travelled  by  omnibus 
as  far  as  Marylebone  Mansions,  where  she  and  her 
sisters  and  brother  occupied  a  flat  on  the  fourth  floor. 
As  every  one  knows,  Marylebone  Mansions  are  not 
luxurious  habitations.  They  cannot  boast  of  a  lift, 
electric  light,  or  even  a  boy  in  buttons.  They  contain 
small  suites  of  unfurnished  apartments,  which  are  let 
at  very  moderate  rents,  and  occupied,  for  the  most  part, 
by  decayed  gentlepeople. 

Cecily  toiled  slowly  up  the  four  steep  flights,  and  at 
last,  breathless  and  exhausted,  found  herself  in  the 
little  sitting-room  where  her  family  had  just  sat  down 
to  high  tea.  A  large  dish  of  mince  formed  the  piece  de 
resistance  of  the  meal,  while  half  a  cold  rice  pudding 
and  a  seed-cake  took  the  place  of  second  course  and 
dessert. 

"  Mince  again,"  observed  Cecily,  surveying  the  feast 
with  discontented  eyes.  "  I  should  like  to  know  what 

25 


26  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

lost  soul  it  was  who  first  invented  the  combination  of 
tea  and  mince.  I  believe  the  tea  turns  the  mince  to 
leather  inside  us." 

"  I'm  afraid  Mr.  Fleming  is  spoiling  you,"  said 
Margaret  good-humouredly.  "You  get  such  a  nice 
tea  at  the  studio  that  you  come  home  with  no  appetite 
for  our  humble  fare." 

"  It  is  very  good  mince,"  observed  Peter,  a  blunt- 
featured  youth  of  about  eighteen.  "  I  ought  to  know, 
because  I  helped  to  mince  it." 

"  Then  I  hope  you  washed  your  hands  first,"  said 
Cecily.  "  As  a  rule  all  the  blacks  in  London  seem  to 
be  attracted  to  your  finger-tips." 

Laying  aside  her  hat  and  jacket  she  sat  down  to  the 
table,  and  thanks  to  a  healthy  appetite,  made  a  very 
fair  meal  off  the  despised  dish.  Before  the  rice  pud- 
ding stage  •  had  been  reached,  the  little  party  was 
startled  by  a  sharp  ring  at  the  bell.  Peter  jumped  up 
to  open  the  door,  and  a  moment  later  ushered  a  gentle- 
man into  the  room  with  the  announcement : 

"  Here's  Mr.  Dormer." 

Cecily  made  an  involuntary  gesture  of  dismay  at 
the  sight  of  the  visitor,  who  was  a  tall,  distinguished- 
looking  man  of  about  five-and-thirty,  with  broad, 
slightly  stooping  shoulders,  and  a  well-shaped  head. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  27 

His  face  was  rather  pale,  with  long,  sharply-cut  fea- 
tures, and  eyes  so  deep-set  that  their  colour  was  scarce- 
ly distinguishable. 

"  I  hope  you  will  forgive  me  for  disturbing  you  at 
dinner,"  he  said,  addressing  Margaret  in  tone  of  rather 
formal  courtesy.  "  But  at  the  eleventh  hour  I  have 
had  to  make  some  alteration  in  my  play,  to  write  a  fresh 
scene  in  short,  and  you  know  what  my  hand-writing 
is ;  it  takes  a  person  of  some  imagination  to  decipher 
it.  So  I  have  come  to  ask  you  if  you  will  be  so  very 
kind  as  to  copy  it  at  short  notice.  The  last  rehearsal 
takes  place  to-morrow  afternoon.  I  will  send  my  man 
round  for  the  copy  in  the  morning  if  you  will  allow 
me." 

"  Oh,  but  I  will  do  it  at  once,"  said  Madge  briskly, 
"  and  post  it  to  you  to-night." 

"  That  would  be  very  good  of  you,"  he  returned 
with  an  air  of  relief.  "  But  are  you  sure  that  I  am 
not  putting  you  to  any  inconvenience  ?  " 

"Not  a  scrap,"  she  replied,  flashing  her  eyes  and 
teeth  at  him  from  sheer  force  of  habit.  "  I  wish  you 
were.  Business  is  unpleasantly  slack  just  now." 

"  I  am  sorry  to  hear  it,"  he  said,  looking  over  her 
head  to  avoid  meeting  her  eyes.  "  But  as  you  are  not 
very  busy  I  hope  you  may  be  able  to  be  present  at  the 


28  A  STUDY   IN  PREJUDICES. 

first  performance  of  '  Noughts  arid  Crosses,'  on  Thurs- 
day night.  I  have  a  couple  of  stalls  at  my  disposal, 
and  I  shall  be  very  pleased  if  you  and  one  of  your  sis- 
ters will  make  use  of  them." 

As  he  spoke  he  glanced  at  the  two  younger  girls. 
His  eyes  did  not  rest  long  on  Kate's  square,  curly 
head,  or  upon  the  handsome,  decided  little  features 
that  surmounted  the  stiff  shirt-front  and  spotted  tie, 
hut  they  lingered  upon  Cecily's  pensive  face.  Her 
head  was  slightly  bent,  her  eyes  downcast,  and  her 
cheek  had  grown  perceptibly  paler. 

" '  A  maiden  of  our  century,  yet  most  meek,' " 
quoted  Dormer  to  himself  approvingly.  "  What  a 
pity  that  she  should  be  placed  amid  such  dreadful 
surroundings." 

"  Of  course  we  shall  be  only  too  delighted  to  come," 
said  Madge,  as  Dormer  produced  the  tickets.  "  I  had 
been  looking  forward  to  seeing  the  play  some  day,  but 
I  did  not  expect  to  be  there  on  the  first  night.  I  am 
sure  it  will  be  a  tremendous  success." 

"  Thank  you,"  he  said.  "  I  am  not  so  sanguine. 
What  one  has  done  always  seems  so  poor  compared 
with  what  one  meant  and  hoped  to  do.  Good-night. 
I  hope  you  will  excuse  me  for  having  intruded  upon 
you  at  so  late  an  hour." 


A  STUDY   IN   PREJUDICES.  29 

He  was  about  to  leave  the  room,  when  his  eye  was 
caught  by  some  pen  and  ink  sketches  that  were  pinned 
upon  the  wall.  They  purported  to  be  studies  of  life  in 
fairyland,  and  represented  Puck,  Peaseblossom,  and  the 
rest  of  the  Shakespearean  elves  playing,  courting  and 
quarrelling  among  tall  grass  and  flowers. 

"  What  pretty  sketches  !  "  said  Dormer.  "  May  I 
ask  whose  work  they  are  ?  " 

"  They  are  mine,"  said  Cecily,  coming  forward,  her 
cheeks  as  red  as  a  rose.  She  was  given  to  blushing 
vividly  on  the  slightest  provocation,  but  this  habit  is 
not,  invariably  as  Dormer  supposed,  a  sign  of  excep- 
tional modesty. 

"  They  are  quite  charming,"  he  said  kindly,  anxious 
to  reassure  her.  "  You  ought  to  try  your  hand  at  il- 
lustrating stories.  My  publishers  are  bringing  out 
some  fairy  tales  in  the  autumn,  which  are  to  be  copi- 
ously illustrated.  I  should  be  very  pleased  to  show 
them  some  of  your  drawings,  if  you  think  you  would 
like  that  kind  of  work." 

"  Oh,  thank  you,"  exclaimed  Cecily,  raising  a  pair 
of  shining  eyes  to  his.  "  There  is  nothing  I  should 
like  better,  if  you  really  think  my  drawings  are  good 
enough." 

"  They  look  to  me  decidedly  more  artistic  than  most 


30  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

of  the  illustrations  in  children's  books.  If  you  will 
put  together  a  few  of  the  best  I  will  come  on  Friday 
to  fetch  them.  I  shall  want  to  hear  your  opinion  of 
Thursday's  performance." 

As  soon  as  the  visitor  was  gone,  Cecily  turned  to 
her  sisters  with  an  expression  of  mingled  ecstasy  and 
distress. 

"Isn't  he  a  perfect  angel  of  kindness?"  she  ex- 
claimed. "  But  wasn't  it  unlucky  his  coming  just  at 
this  time  ?  We  shall  be  associated  for  ever  after  in 
his  mind  with  minced  mutton  and  three-cornered  bits 
of  toast." 

"  I  don't  suppose  he  noticed  anything,"  said  Madge 
placidly.  "  And  what  does  it  matter  if  he  did,  as  long 
as  he  is  connected  in  our  minds  with  cheques  and  postal 
orders?  He  is  a  small  but  regular  income  to  us, 
thanks  to  that  threatening  he  had  of  writer's  cramp." 

"  I  believe  he  really  is  a  good  sort  in  spite  of  his 
stand-off  manners,"  said  Kate,  as  she  took  up  a  position 
with  her  back  to  the  fire,  and  lighted  a  cigarette.  "  I 
was  talking  to  some  fellows  about  him  only  the  other 
day,  and  they  said  that  though  he  was  rather  a  Phi- 
listine and  didn't  know  how  to  enjoy  himself,  yet  that 
he  was  popular  in  his  profession.  He's  always  ready  to 
put  his  hand  in  his  pocket  when  a  subscription  is  being 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  31 

got  up  for  any  poor  devil  who  has  gone  under,  and  he 
has  been  known  to  give  a  leg-up  to  more  than  one 
promising  beginner." 

Cecily  listened  to  this  account  with  an  interest  that 
might  have  appeared  rather  extreme  in  one  who,  after 
all,  was  a  mere  acquaintance,  but  the  truth  was  that 
like  most  women  of  impulsive  emotional  temperament 
she  had  a  pronounced  tendency  to  hero-worship.  No 
sooner  did  she  hear  of  a  man  who  stood  out  from 
among  his  fellows  by  reason  of  his  physical  courage, 
mental  strength,  or  moral  excellence,  than  she  instantly 
exalted  him  upon  an  imaginary  pedestal,  and  waved 
before  him  the  incense  of  her  generous  admiration.  In 
former  days  her  father  had  been  her  hero-in-chief,  but 
he  had  shared  his  honours  with  various  V.C.'s  and 
wounded  veterans.  Of  late  she  had  had  no  satisfactory 
subject  whereon  to  lavish  her  youthful  enthusiasm,  for 
though  she  had  endeavoured  to  raise  Jasper  Fleming 
to  the  rank  of  a  hero,  he  obstinately  persisted  in  jump- 
ing down  from  the  pedestal  upon  which  she  placed 
him.  But  Mr.  Dormer  was  a  far  more  hopeful  speci- 
men. His  books  and  plays  testified  to  his  intellectual 
powers,  report  spoke  highly  of  his  character  and 
manner  of  life,  and  she  and  her  sisters  had  already 

received  several  proofs  of  his  kindness  and  helpfulness. 
3 


32  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

The  only  drawback  to  her  satisfaction  with  her  new 
hero  was  a  mournful  and  humiliating  convictiou  that 
she  was  utterly  insignificant  in  his  eyes;  worse  still, 
that  if  he  knew  how  foolish  and  frivolous  she  really  was 
he  would  regard  her  with  only  too  well-justified  disap- 
proval and  contempt.  This  feeling  found  a  voice  in 
her  comment  upon  Kate's  words. 

"  How  different  he  is  from  most  of  the  men  we  have 
met,"  she  remarked  in  regretful  tones.  "Perhaps  we 
should  have  been  better  if  we  had  know  more  of  his 
sort.  We  used  to  behave  very  badly  in  the  old  days." 

"  "We  did  rather,"  agreed  Madge  cheerfully.  "  But 
we  had  plenty  of  fun." 

"  Ye — es,"  returned  Cecily,  the  pensive  look  in  her 
eyes  gradually  giving  place  to  a  wicked  sparkle.  "  We 
did  have  fun.  Do  you  remember  that  last  ball  at 
Canterbury,  Madge  ?  " 

"  I  should  just  think  I  did.  You  danced  twelve 
times  with  the  Sandeman  boy,  and  when  I  told  father 
he  ought  to  scold  you,  he  said  he  felt  more  inclined  to 
condole  with  you,  that  the  crime  must  have  brought  its 
own  punishment." 

"  Poor  father,  he  never  could  bear  the  Sandeman 
boy  because  he  wore  spectacles,"  said  Cecily.  "  But 
you  needn't  talk  about  me,  Madge.  You  went  into 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  33 

supper  three  times  with  that  fat  Major  Dashwood,  and 
the  third  time  he  proposed  to  you.  He  cried  when  you 
refused  him,  and  we  all  said  they  must  have  been  tears 
of  thankfulness  at  his  escape." 

These  pleasing  reminiscences  of  past  misdoings  were 
cut  short  by  the  discovery  that  Peter  had  cleared  away 
the  tea-things,  and  that  it  was  time  to  begin  the  even- 
ing's work.  It  should  here  be  explained  that  Peter, 
being  a  youth  of  spirit,  had  determined  that  until  he 
could  find  some  means  of  adding  to  the  family  ex- 
chequer, he  would  relieve  his  sisters  of  those  domestic 
duties  which  often  proved  a  serious  hindrance  to  their 
more  profitable  occupations.  Accordingly,  he  laid  the 
table,  did  the  marketing,  dusted  the  sitting-room,  and 
upon  occasion  assisted  the  inexperienced  little  servant 
with  the  cooking.  His  afternoons  were  usually  spent 
in  visits  to  agents'  offices,  or  in  applying  for  situations 
that  he  had  seen  advertised,  while  his  evenings  were 
devoted  to  a  conscientious  endeavour  to  supply  the 
deficiencies  of  his  public  school  education. 

On  the  present  occasion  Margaret  prepared  to  copy 
Mr.  Dormer's  manuscript,  Kate,  having  finished  her 
cigarette,  sat  down  to  a  big  desk,  covered  with  an 
untidy  mass  of  papers,  and  Peter  reluctantly  produced 
a  French  grammar  which,  with  many  sighs  and  much 


34  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

rumpling  of  hair,  he  proceeded  to  study.  Cecily  seated 
herself  by  her  brother's  side,  and  began  to  make  the 
desired  alterations  in  her  advertisement  design. 

"  Any  luck  to-day,  old  boy  ?  "  she  asked  presently, 
noticing  that  Peter's  studies  seemed  to  have  come  to  a 
stand-still. 

"  The  same  as  usual,"  answered  the  lad  with  an  air 
of  would-be  indifference.  "  I  went  after  that  secretary- 
ship where  no  previous  experience  was  necessary,  you 
know,  and  they  were  perfectly  willing  to  engage  me  if  I 
would  take  shares  in  the  business  to  the  amount  of  five 
hundred  pounds.  That  being  no  go,  I  went  on  to  the 
warehouse  where  they  wanted  a  corresponding  clerk, 
and  found  a  queue  of  about  thirty  fellows  waiting  to 
interview  the  manager.  When  I  had  my  turn  the  old 
fellow  asked  me  if  I  could  do  book-keeping  by  double 
entry,  write  shorthand,  and  correspond  in  French  and 
German.  When  I  said  I  couldn't,  he  wanted  to  know 
what  I  meant  by  wasting  a  busy  man's  time  in  that 
fashion.  Of  course  a  German  got  the  berth.  He  could 
correspond  in  three  languages,  and  do  book-keeping 
upside  down,  if  necessary.  The  other  fellows  said  that 
he  had  undersold  us,  offered  to  take  eighteen-and-six 
instead  of  a  pound  a  week." 

"  Oh,   well,   better    luck    next    time,"   said    Cecily 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  35 

cheerfully.  "  Something  is  sure  to  turn  up  before 
long." 

"  It's  very  odd,"  said  the  boy  meditatively,  "  it's  very 
odd  that  a  fellow's  education  should  be  no  good  to  him 
when  he  wants  to  earn  a  living.  Here  have  I  been 
wasting  years  over  Latin  and  Greek  which  are  now  no 
earthly  use  to  me,  while  the  mathematics  they  make 
such  a  fuss  about  are  precious  little  help  in  commercial 
accounts.  Of  course  we  always  despised  the  foreign 
masters  too  thoroughly  to  learn  much  of  them,  and  no 
one  cared  what  sort  of  a  fist  we  wrote." 

"  Yet  your  education  cost  double  as  much  as  all  of 
ours  put  together,"  remarked  Kate,  looking  up  from 
her  writing. 

"  And  here  are  you  girls  all  making  money  in  one 
way  or  another,"  went  on  Peter  in  aggrieved  tones, 
"  while  I  can't  turn  an  honest  penny,  do  what  I  will." 

"  You  save  us  plenty  of  pennies,  which  comes  to  the 
same  thing,"  put  in  Cecily  consolingly.  "  I'd  back  you 
to  keep  house  against  any  boy  in  England.  When  you 
marry  your  wife  will  find  you  a  perfect  treasure,  espe- 
cially if  she  is  an  advanced  young  lady.  Yon  mustn't  get 
downhearted,  old  man ;  you've  plenty  of  time  before  you." 

"  Oh,  I'm  all  right,"  said  the  lad  with  a  grin. 
"  Only  blow  these  irregular  verbs  ! " 


CHAPTER   IV. 

"  THERE'S  been  a  woman  murdered  near  Bethnal 
Green,"  observed  Kate  next  morning  at  breakfast,  as 
she  looked  up  from  her  paper.  "  I  should  recommend 
you  to  go  off  there  at  once,  Cecily,  and  make  sketches 
of  the  locality.  You  might  take  them  to  the  editor  of 
the  Weekly  Reporter ;  if  no  one  had  been  beforehand 
with  you,  I  think  he  would  probably  accept  them." 

"  It  is  a  dreadful  morning,"  said  Cecily,  looking  out 
of  the  window  at  the  dark  sky  from  which  the  rain  was 
falling  with  quiet  persistence.  She  was  too  much  afraid 
of  Kate's  sarcastic  contempt  to  urge  that  she  did  not 
like  the  nature  of  the  task  that  had  been  proposed  to 
her. 

"  Working  women  can't  stop  to  think  about 
weather,"  returned  Kate.  "  It  would  be  a  pity  to 
throw  away  the  chance  of  earning  a  little  money  with 
very  slight  trouble." 

This  argument  was  not  to  be  refuted  in  the  present 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  37 

state  of  the  family  exchequer.  Cecily  sighed,  and 
agreed  to  undertake  the  expedition. 

Half-an-hour  later  she  was  seated  in  an  omnibus 
her  cold  feet  resting  on  the  muddy  straw,  and  her  spir- 
its considerably  below  zero.  Arrived  at  her  destination, 
a  grimy  alley  leading  out  of  a  back  street,  Cecily  stood 
under  a  doorway,  and  sketched  the  scene  of  the  trag- 
edy. A  number  of  roughs,  male  and  female,  were 
hanging  about  the  entrance  to  the  alley,  staring  curi- 
ously at  the  closed  door  and  blank  windows  of  the 
police-guarded  house,  and  repeating  to  each  other  in 
unctuous  tones  all  the  ghastly  details  of  the  crime. 

Candid  critics  among  the  crowd  peered  over  Cecily's 
shoulder,  and  compared  her  half-finished  sketch  unfa- 
vourably with  the  original,  and  a  ghoulish-looking 
woman  whispered  in  her  ear  that  for  a  consideration  she 
might  be  able  to  get  her  a  sight  of  the  body.  Sick  at 
heart  and  trembling  in  every  limb,  the  girl  hastily  fin- 
ished her  task,  and  escaped  from  her  horrible  surround- 
ings. She  took  the  train  to  the  Temple,  and  then  walked 
to  the  office  of  the  Weekly  Reporter  in  Bedford  Street, 
where  she  hoped  to  dispose  of  her  work.  But,  alas ! 
another  artist  had  forestalled  her,  and  his  sketches, 
though  ill-drawn  and  inaccurate,  had  found  favour  in 
the  editor's  sight  by  reason  of  their  so-called  "  realism." 


38  A  STUDY  IX  PREJUDICES. 

They  included  a  fancy  portrait  of  the  murderer  and  of 
his  victim,  as  well  as  a  sketch  of  the  public-house  where 
the  former  had  maddened  himself  with  drink  before  he 
committed  the  crime. 

Against  attractions  such  as  these  Cecily  felt  that  it 
was  hopeless  to  compete,  so  she  rolled  up  her  drawings 
and  went  out  into  the  street.  The  rain  had  increased 
to  a  downpour,  the  omnibuses  were  all  full,  and  as  she 
realised  that  she  had  had.  all  her  trouble  and  distress 
for  nothing  she  felt  that  she  would  like  to  sit  down 
upon  a  doorstep  and  indulge  in  a  good  cry.  That  be- 
ing clearly  impossible,  she  stood  for  a  moment  at  the 
corner  of  the  street,  debating  whether  she  should  get 
some  lunch  at  a  shop  or  go  straight  home.  She  had 
just  decided  on  the  former  course  when  a  young  man 
who  was  hurrying  past  suddenly  stopped  short  and  ex- 
claimed : 

"  Miss  Tregarthen,  by  all  that's  wonderful !  What 
can  have  brought  you  down  to  the  Strand  on  such  a 
morning  ?  " 

"  I  have  been  taking  some  drawings  to  an  editor," 
replied  Cecily,  with  a  blush  that  was  inspired  partly  by 
shame  at  her  errand,  partly  by  the  recollection  of  the 
somewhat  violent  flirtation  she  had  carried  on  with  Mr. 
Bassett  at  their  previous  meetings.  The  young  man 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  39 

had  been  introduced  to  her  at  Mrs.  Marchmont's  house, 
and  she  had  afterwards  met  him  at  two  or  three  musi- 
cal parties,  at  which  he,  a  rising  drawing-room  tenor, 
had  been  engaged  to  sing.  "  But  the  editor  wouldn't 
have  them,"  she  went  on  mournfully,  as  the  blush  died 
away,  leaving  her  cheeks  paler  than  before. 

"  Then  he  ought  to  be  shot,"  remarked  the  young 
man  cheerfully.  "  But  I  say,  Miss  Tregarthen,  you 
look  awfully  fagged  ;  I  expect  you  want  your  luncheon. 
I  wish  you'd  come  with  me  to  Batti's.  I  was  on  my 
way  there  when  I  met  you." 

"  Oh,  thanks  very  much,"  said  Cecily  feebly,  for  in 
her  hungry,  exhausted  condition  the  proposal  sounded 
almost  irresistibly  tempting.  "  But  I  think  I  ought  to 
get  home  to  lunch." 

"  Nonsense,  you  would  faint  by  the  way.  You 
don't  think  there  would  be  any  harm  in  lunching  with 
me,  do  you  ?  I  assure  you  Batti's  is  a  most  respectable 
place ;  lots  of  ladies  go  there,  both  alone  and  with  their 
men  friends." 

Cecily  mentally  acknowledged  that  what  Mr.  Bas- 
sett  said  was  perfectly  true.  Though  it  might  not  be  a 
very  conventional  proceeding  to  go  to  a  Strand  restau- 
rant with  a  male  acquaintance,  yet  there  was  no  actual 
harm  in  it,  and  many  girls  would  accept  such  an  in  vita- 


40  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

tion  as  a  matter  of  course,  her  sister  Kate  among 
others.  Still  she  hesitated  and  endeavoured  to  effect  a 
compromise. 

"  I  really  am  very  hungry,"  she  said.  "  Will  you 
take  me  to  a  confectioner's  for  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a 
bun?" 

"  Certainly  not,"  he  replied.  "  I  consider  confec- 
tioners' shops  most  dangerous  and  demoralising  places ; 
the  young  women  behind  the  counter  are  always  so 
alarmingly  affable.  Come  along  to  Batti's,  and  I  will 
promise  you  something  better  than  a  cup  of  coffee  and 
a  bun." 

Cecily  made  no  further  protest,  but  meekly  accom- 
panied her  friend  to  the  restaurant.  She  was  obliged 
to  admit  that  it  was  very  pleasant  to  rest  her  weary 
limbs  on  a  comfortable  seat  in  a  well- warmed  room,  and 
to  allay  the  pangs  of  hunger  with  a  charming  little 
luncheon,  which  included  a  bottle  of  champagne.  It 
was  seldom  in  those  days  that  she  tasted  wine,  and  one 
glass  of  champagne  went  like  fire  through  her  veins, 
brightening  her  eyes,  flushing  her  cheeks  and  causing 
her  to  feel  on  the  best  of  terms  with  herself  and  the 
whole  of  mankind.  She  laughed  at  her  companion's 
jokes  with  rather  more  appreciation  than  was  justified 
by  their  intrinsic  merits,  and  could  not  bring  herself  to 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  41 

snub  him  when  his  hitherto  respectful  manner  gradually 
gave  way  to  an  easy  familiarity  which  occasionally  bor- 
dered on  impertinence. 

When  at  length  Cecily  declared  for  the  fourth  time 
that  she  really  must  go,  she  positively  must  not  stop  a 
minute  longer,  Mr.  Bassett  glanced  out  of  the  window, 
and  observed : 

"  It's  raining  hard  still.  I  don't  see  the  use  of 
going  home.  I  mean  to  try  and  get  into  the  Gaiety ; 
there's  a  matinee  to-day  of  '  Puss  in  Boots  up  to 
Date.'  You  had  better  come  too.  They'll  give  me  a 
couple  of  stalls  if  the  house  is  not  full." 

"  Oh,  no,  that's  quite  impossible,"  said  Cecily  in 
virtuous  tones,  though  at  the  bottom  of  her  pleasure- 
loving  soul  she  was  yearning  to  accept  the  invitation. 
"  Margaret  wouldn't  like  it." 

"Who  the  deuce  is  Margaret?"  asked  the  young 
man  lightly. 

"  My  eldest  sister,"  replied  Cecily,  vainly  trying  to 
look  as  if  she  were  shocked  at  his  disrespectful 
language. 

"  If  she's  the  sister  I  saw  with  you  at  the  Brereton's, 
I'm  sure  she  wouldn't  mind,"  he  remarked.  "  She 
looked  much  too  good  a  fellow  to  spoil  sport.  I  ex- 
pect she'd  like  to  stand  in  your  shoes." 


4-2  A   STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  So  she  would,"  said  Cecily,  rather  amused  at  his 
penetration. 

"  Then  come  on,"  he  continued  brusquely.  "  Don't 
be  obstinate.  What's  the  good  of  spending  a  dull 
afternoon  at  home  when  you  might  be  listening  to 
Arthur  Roberts  at  the  Gaiety?" 

This  reasoning  seemed  quite  unanswerable.  Cecily 
assured  herself  that  Leonard  Bassett  was  nothing  but 
a  boy,  that  to  go  to  a  theatre  with  him  was  very 
much  the  same  as  going  with  Peter  or  one  of  Peter's 
friends.  Besides,  it  was  perfectly  true  that  Madge 
would  not  really  be  shocked  at  such  a  proceeding, 
and  that  Kate  would  wonder  why  she  hesitated. 

"  Oh,  well,  I  think  I  may  as  well  go  if  you  are 
sure  you  can  get  tickets,"  she  said,  jumping  up  and 
arranging  her  hat  before  one  of  the  mirrors.  A  good 
many  glances  were  turned  upon  her  as  she  stood 
there,  patting  the  little  locks  that  curled  all  the  more 
crisply  for  their  wetting,  and  pulling  down  the  spotted 
veil  that  seemed  to  emphasise  rather  than  to  conceal 
the  brilliance  of  her  eyes  and  cheeks. 

A  quarter  of  an  hour  later  Miss  Tregarthen  and 
her  companion  were  seated  in  the  second  row  of  stalls 
at  the  Gaiety,  listening  to  the  lively  music,  and  laugh- 
ing at  the  astounding  jokes  of  "  Puss  in  Boots  up  to 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  43 

Date."  In  spite  of,  or  perhaps  because  of,  its  flavour 
of  forbidden  fruit,  Cecily  was  thoroughly  enjoying  her 
afternoon's  entertainment.  She  looked  compassionately 
at  a  trio  of  girls  in  the  next  row,  who  were  plain  and 
dowdy,  had  no  male  escort,  and  did  not  look  as  if 
they  had  indulged  in  champagne  for  luncheon.  Poor 
things!  She  wondered  whether  they  found  much 
pleasure  in  life,  and  fancied  that  they  must  feel  rather 
envious  of  her  superior  lot. 

The  burlesque  went  gaily  on  its  way,  the  crowded 
theatre  grew  very  hot,  and  Mr.  Bassett,  inspired  per- 
haps by  the  music  in  addition  to  the  lion's  share  of 
the  champagne,  became  alarmingly  empresse  in  his 
manner.  Even  Cecily,  enthusiastic  theatre-goer  though 
she  was,  felt  rather  relieved  when  at  length  the  per- 
formance came  to  an  end. 

"  You'll  come  and  have  some  tea  before  you  go 
home,"  said  Bassett  as  they  left  the  building. 

"  No,  thank  you,"  replied  Cecily  with  unmistakable 
decision  this  time.  "  I  must  take  an  omnibus  home 
at  once." 

"  I'm  going  your  .way,"  said  the  young  man.  "  You 
must  let  me  drop  you  at  your  own  door." 

He  hailed  a  hansom,  and  Cecily  stepped  into  it 
with  a  sigh  of  resignation.  She  felt  as  though  she 


44  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

had  spent  centuries  in  his  company,  but  it  seemed 
impossible  to  escape  from  him.  As  they  drove  up 
Eegent  Street  she  caught  sight  of  a  pale  intellectual- 
looking  face  among  the  crowd  on  the  pavement,  and 
hastily  leant  back  in  the  cab  to  avoid  being  seen. 

"  Did  you  see  that  tall  round-shouldered  fellow  on 
the  right  ? "  asked  Bassett.  "  That's  Dormer,  the 
author  and  dramatist.  He's  quite  a  celebrity  nowadays. 
I  can't  say  I  care  much  about  his  books,  they  are  too 
jolly  clever  for  me ;  but  I  know  he's  a  kind-hearted 
chap.  He  helped  a  chum  of  mine  out  of  a  tight  place 
the  other  day." 

As  Cecily  listened  to  his  careless  words,  she  felt  a 
sudden  sense  of  revulsion  against  herself,  her  com- 
panion, and  her  afternoon's  amusement.  She  dis- 
covered that  Mr.  Bassett  was  nothing  but  a  pert 
empty-headed  youth,  and  that  the  admiration,  the 
luncheon,  and  the  burlesque  that  she  had  so  enjoyed, 
were  most  ignoble  sources  of  pleasure.  And  how  Mr. 
Dormer  would  despise  her,  if  he  knew  in  what  manner 
she  had  spent  the  afternoon.  She  felt  sure  that  he 
was  wholly  indifferent  to  luncheon,  that  he  would  be 
horribly  bored  by  a  burlesque,  and  that  he  would  thor- 
oughly disapprove  of  any  young  woman  who  went 
about  unchaperoned  in  the  company  of  a  young  man. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  45 

"  I  wish  I  were  good,"  she  thought  to  herself  re- 
gretfully. "  If  only  mother  had  lived,  or  we  had  grown 
up  in  a  more  particular,  steady-going  set,  I  might  have 
been  a  nicer  sort  of  girl." 

At  this  point  her  reflections  were  interrupted  hy 
Mr.  Bassett,  who  fancied  that  her  silence  was  caused 
by  regret  that  the  moment  of  their  separation  was  so 
near  at  hand. 

"  Well,"  he  said,  trying  to  assume  a  tone  of  senti- 
mental tenderness,  "  we  shall  soon  have  to  say  good-bye, 
worse  luck.  We've  had  a  ripping  good  time  though, 
haven't  we  ?  Can't  we  arrange  to  have  another  after- 
noon together  ?  We  might  do  one  of  the  music  halls 
next  time." 

As  he  spoke  he  laid  his  hand  with  a  gentle  pressure 
upon  hers.  If  he  had  been  in  a  four-wheeler  he 
thought  that  he  would  have  put  his  arm  round  her 
waist.  Rather  to  his  surprise,  Cecily  withdrew  her 
hand  with  a  petulant  gesture,  and  shrank  as  far  from 
him  as  space  would  allow. 

"  You're  uncommon  cruel  all  of  a  sudden,"  he  re- 
marked in  injured  tones.  "  We've  been  such  good 
friends  all  the  afternoon." 

Cecily  shrugged  her  shoulders,  but  was  saved  the 
necessity  for  explaining  her  change  of  conduct  by  the 


46  A   STDDY  IX  PREJUDICES. 

fact  that  at  the  same  moment  the  cab  drew  up  at  her 
own  door. 

"  Good-bye,"  she  cried,  her  spirits  rising  at  the 
prospect  of  release.  "  Thanks  so  much  for  everything. 
I  dare  say  we  shall  meet  again  some  day." 

With  a  sigh  of  relief  she  sprang  to  the  pavement, 
and  ran  into  the  house  without  so  much  as  a  backward 
glance  at  her  playfellow  of  the  afternoon. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ON  the  following  evening  the  first  performance  of 
Mr.  Dormer's  new  play  "  Noughts  and  Crosses  "  was  to 
take  place.  Kate  had  insisted  that  Cecily  should  make 
use  of  the  second  ticket  since  she  herself  would  prob- 
ably be  able  to  get  an  order  later  on  from  the  person- 
age whom  she  was  accustomed  to  speak  of  as  "  my 
editor."  Peter  was  to  accompany  his  sisters  and  fight 
his  way  into  the  pit.  The  Miss  Tregarthens  set  out 
upon  their  omnibus  journey  to  the  theatre  in  high 
spirits,  for  they  were  conscious  of  looking  well,  in  spite 
of  the  shabbiness  of  their  old  black  dresses,  and  they 
had  every  anticipation  of  an  interesting  and  exciting 
evening.  The  stalls  were  empty  when  the  sisters  ar- 
rived, but  they  quickly  filled  up  with  a  representative 
"first-night"  audience,  and  there  seemed  every  pros- 
pect that  the  house  would  be  crowded  from  floor  to 
ceiling.  A  good  many  glasses  were  levelled  at  the  two 
striking-looking  young  women  in  black,  and  Miles, 

4  47 


48  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

from  his  seat  at  the  back  of  a  stage-box,  caught  a 
glimpse  of  a  little  head  "sunning  over  with  curls" 
which  he  guessed  to  be  Cecily's,  and  for  some  unac- 
countable reason  he  felt  an  additional  tremor  of  nerv- 
ousness at  the  sight. 

It  soon  appeared,  however,  that  there  was  no  occa- 
sion for  anxiety  on  the  part  of  the  dramatist  or  his 
friends,  for  the  cleverness  of  "  Noughts  and  Crosses " 
was  not  to  be  denied  by  even  the  most  captious  of 
critics.  The  plot  was  ingenious,  the  characters — with 
one  exception— were  convincing,  the  dialogue  was  often 
brilliant  and  always  pointed,  while  the  situations  were 
contrived  with  an  ingenuity  that  proved  the  author  to 
have  an  unusual  talent  for  dramatic  effect.  There 
seemed  to  be  only  one  defect  of  any  importance  in  the 
whole  play,  and  this  was  to  be  found  in  the  character 
of  the  heroine,  who  was  evidently  intended  to  be  the 
embodiment  of  all  the  feminine  graces,  but  who  failed 
to  arouse  either  interest  or  sympathy  by  reason  of  her 
feebleness  and  unreality.  The  lack  of  warmth  and 
passion  that  was  occasionally  noticeable  in  the  love 
scenes  was  due  to  the  insipidity  of  this  prominent 
character  rather  than  to  any  weakness  in  the  dialogue 
or  action. 

A  lady  who  was  seated  just  in  front  of  the  Tre- 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  49 

garthens  made  comments  upon  the  play  to  her  compan- 
ion in  the  tone  and  manner  of  one  having  authority. 

"It's  good — it's  absolutely  good,"  she  remarked  as 
the  curtain  went  down  at  the  conclusion  of  the  first 
act.  "Every  word  tells,  and  the  men  are  all  there. 
But  when  is  the  heroine  going  to  wake  up?  Poor 
Delaunay  is  doing  her  best  with  the  part,  but  she  never 
gets  a  chance.  Has  Mr.  Dormer  never  met  a  real  live 
woman  that  he  should  draw  such  a  stick  in  petticoats  ? 
Has  he  never  made  a  fool  of  himself  about  anybody 
that  he  should  write  such  pasteboard  love  scenes  ?  " 

"  He  must  have  had  his  romances,"  said  her  com- 
panion. "  He's  a  good  bit  over  thirty." 

"Oh  yes,  he  must  have  had  romances,  or  he 
couldn't  write  them,"  went  on  the  critical  lady.  "  But 
I  don't  believe  that  he  has  ever  had  a  grand  passion, 
ever  loved  a  woman  so  that  he  wanted  to  stand  on  his 
head  and  make  himself  ridiculous  for  her  sake.  That's 
the  greatest  proof  of  affection  a  man  can  give,  you 
know." 

Cecily  listened  to  these  comments  with  an  odd 
mingling  of  annoyance  and  satisfaction,  annoyance  at 
the  adverse  criticisms,  satisfaction  at  the  suggestion 
that  her  hero  had  never  experienced  the  fret  and  fever 
of  a  grand  passion.  She  liked  to  think  of  him  us 


50  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"unmoved,  cold,  and  to  temptation  slow,"  to  fancy  that 
he  alone  of  all  the  men  she  knew  was  proof  against 
pretty  faces  and  feminine  wiles. 

"When  the  curtain  came  down  for  the  second  time, 
the  lady  in  front  again  gave  vent  to  her  irritation 
against  the  character  of  the  heroine. 

"It's  all  so  perfect  except  for  that  woman,"  she 
complained.  "  The  dialogue  is  really  witty,  which  is 
curious  considering  that  Mr.  Dormer  is  rather  a  dull 
man  in  private  life ;  I  suppose  he  keeps  his  good 
things  for  his  books  and  plays.  But  I  should  like  to 
run  a  bonnet-pin  into  the  heroine,  only  I  know  she 
wouldn't  bleed ;  she  can  have  nothing  but  sawdust  in 
her  veins.  Did  you  notice  a  proof  of  the  author's 
ignorance  of  feminine  nature  in  the  last  scene?  He 
really  might  know  by  this  time  that  when  a  woman 
adores  a  man,  and  knows  herself  to  be  adored  by  him, 
she  doesn't  go  about  mewing  all  the  time.  .  As  long  as 
she  is  alone  with  her  lover  she  is  as  jolly  as  possible, 
however  many  stern  parents  or  jealous  husbands  there 
may  be  in  the  background.  And  then  what  a  mistake 
to  make  a  proposal  take  place  in  the  morning.  No 
man  ever  proposed  to  me  before  lunch.  If  he  had  I 
should  have  told  him  to  go  and  have  a  beefsteak  and  a 
bottle  of  Bass,  and  then  come  and  ask  me  again." 


A   STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  51 

i 

"Evidently  you  combine  observation  with  experi- 
ence," said  her  companion,  laughing.  "  You  ought  to 
write  a  book  on  dramatic  art,  Mrs.  Thornton,  and  give 
these  poor  duffers  the  benefit  of  your  superior  knowl- 
edge." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  play  there  were  the  usual 
shouts  of  "  Author !  Author ! "  and  the  applause  which 
had  been  vociferous  throughout  was  renewed  again  and 
again.  The  enthusiasm  reached  its  height  when 
Dormer  came  before  the  foot-lights  to  bow  his  ac- 
knowledgments. He  was  neither  nervous  nor  excited 
now.  He  had  been  through  very  much  the  same  scene 
twice  before,  and,  so  soon  does  success  lose  its  savour, 
he  found  himself  wondering  why  on  earth  any  one 
should  be  gratified  by  all  this  stamping  and  clapping. 
It  had  been  pleasant  enough  the  first  time,  no  doubt, 
but  now  it  seemed  to  him  little  more  than  meaningless 
noise.  He  was  glad  that  the  piece  had  gone  off  well ; 
after  all  the  worry  and  labour  of  preparation  he  should 
have  been  vexed  if  it  had  made  a  fiasco.  Yet  neither 
success  nor  failure  would  have  affected  any  one  but 
himself  and  the  personnel  of  the  theatre.  In  the  latter 
event  he  knew  that  his  friends  and  acquaintances  would 
have  condoled  with  him  civilly  enough,  but  that  in 
their  secret  hearts  they  would  have  felt  rather  amused 


52  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

at  his  misfortune,  and  told  each  other  behind  his  back 
that  they  had  always  thought  him  an  over-rated 
fellow. 

At  this  point  in  his  reflections  his  eyes,  wandering 
carelessly  over  the  rows  of  upturned  faces,  suddenly 
encountered  another  pair  of  eyes,  that  looked  into  his 
with  a  happy,  triumphant  gaze,  eyes  that  were  proud 
for  him,  glad  for  him,  exultant  for  him,  and  all  with- 
out one  thought  of  self,  as  the  eyes  of  a  wife  or  sweet- 
heart might  have  been.  As  Miles  stood  before  the  foot- 
lights and  looked  round  upon  the  applauding  crowd,  he 
felt  as  if  he  and  Cecily  Tregarthen,  the  owner  of  the 
eyes,  were  alone  in  the  building,  for  a  sudden  convic- 
tion forced  itself  upon  him  that  she  was  the  only  crea- 
ture among  those  indifferent  multitudes  who  honestly 
rejoiced  at  his  success,  the  only  creature  who  would 
have  sincerely  grieved  at  his  failure.  And  in  the  same 
moment  he  realised  that  success  was  still  sweet,  and 
that  failure  would  have  been  intolerable. 

When  the  tumult  had  subsided  somewhat,  the  Tre- 
garthens  made  their  way  to  the  entrance,  there  to  wait 
until  Peter  had  emerged  from  the  pit.  Miles,  who  had 
been  putting  some  friends  into  their  carriage,  came 
up  to  the  girls,  and  asked  if  he  might  get  them  a 
cab. 


A  STUDY   IX  PREJUDICES.  53 

"  No,  thanks,"  said  Madge.  "  We  don't  run  to  cabs. 
We  are  going  home  by  omnibus,  with  Peter  to  take  care 
of  us." 

Though  he  knew  that  he  ought  to  be  distributing 
himself  among  a  dozen  influential  personages,  Miles 
lingered  with  the  girls,  for  well  as  they  were  able  to 
take  care  of  themselves,  he  could  not  bring  himself  to 
leave  them  standing  under  the  electric  light,  exposed  to 
the  gaze  of  all  the  loafers  who  had  collected  round  the 
entrance.  He  listened  absently  to  Margaret's  compli- 
ments and  congratulations,  but  from  time  to  time  his 
eyes  stole  to  Cecily's  face,  in  the  half-conscious  hope  of 
meeting  once  again  that  wonderful  revelation  of  sym- 
pathy and  understanding.  But  the  rose-flush  of  excite- 
ment had  died  out  of  her  cheeks,  and  her  eyes  remained 
obstinately  fixed  upon  the  ground.  She  contributed 
little  to  Madge's  admiring  comments  on  the  play ;  per- 
haps she  was  aware  that  she  had  already  revealed  her 
thoughts. 

Presently  Peter  made  his  appearance,  looking  warm 
and  dishevelled,  as  though  he  had  taken  more  than  his 
share  of  pushing  and  being  pushed.  Before  he  hurried 
his  sisters  away  Miles  found  time  to  say  to  Cecily : 

"Have  you  looked  out  your  drawings?  I  am  com- 
ing for  them  to-morrow,  you  know." 


54:  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  They  are  quite  ready,"  she  replied,  with  a  glance 
of  shy  gratitude.  "  It  is  so  good  of  you  to  think  of 
them  at  such  a  time." 

Then  she  disappeared  into  the  night,  and  Miles  hur- 
ried away  to  receive  the  guests  whom  he  had  invited  to 
sup  with  him  at  the  Circus  Restaurant.  The  party, 
consisting  chiefly  of  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  the 
evening,  was  extremely  lively,  and  the  festivity  pro- 
longed itself  into  the  small  hours  of  the  morning. 
Miles  was  heartily  tired  of  the  entertainment  long  be- 
fore it  was  over,  and  as  he  drove  home  to  his  chambers, 
he  realised  more  keenly  than  ever  before  that  the  joy  of 
creation,  the  unalloyed  satisfaction  in  the  completion  of 
a  piece  of  honest  work,  the  sense  of  having  fought  a 
good  fight  with  the  difficulties  of  conception  and  exe- 
cution and  come  off  victorious — that  these  are  the  au- 
thor's true  rewards,  and  outvalue  all  the  success  and 
notoriety  the  world  has  to  give.  But  now  for  the  first 
time  he  began  to  ask  himself  whether  this  feeling  was 
not  partly  due'  to  his  peculiar  circumstances,  whether 
fame  might  not  seem  sweeter  and  fortune  more  desira- 
ble if  he  had  some  one  to  share  them  with,  some  one  to 
whom  his  triumph  would  be  as  her  own. 

With  a  certain  shy  surmise  which  was  quaint 
enough  in  one  to  whom  the  critics  alluded  as  "  that 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  55 

popular  dramatist,"  he  wondered  how  he  should  feel  if 
he  were  driving  home  that  night  with  a  young  wife  at 
his  side.  He  would  have  his  arm  round  her  waist  per- 
haps, and  it  was  possible  that  her  head  might  be  resting 
on  his  shoulder.  His  heart  gave  a  little  jump  at  the 
thought,  and  involuntarily  his  arm  stole  out  from  his 
side,  while  he  glanced  down  as  though  half  expecting 
to  see  a  fair  bowed  head  upon  his  coat  sleeve.  He 
laughed  at  his  own  folly  the  next  moment,  as  his  arm 
clasped  the  empty  air,  and  he  hastened  to  remind  him- 
self of  his  long-cherished  articles  of  faith,  that  marriage 
was  a  lottery  in  which  there  were  few  prizes,  that  a  wife 
was  usually  a  clog  on  a  man's  career,  and  that  children 
were  the  source  of  more  anxiety  than  comfort.  He  had 
acquired  certain  old-bachelor  instincts  and  prejudices 
which  caused  him  to  shrink  from  the  idea  of  a  woman's 
constant  presence  in  his  house,  from  the  intrusion  of 
feminine  affairs  and  domestic  details  into  the  comfort- 
able privacy  of  celibate  life.  He  was  dimly  conscious, 
moreover,  that  his  disposition  was  jealous  and  exacting, 
and  if  he  once  placed  his  peace  of  mind  and  happiness 
in  the  hands  of  a  woman  what  tortures  might  she  not 
cause  him,  how  entirely  Avould  he  be  at  her  mercy! 
How  he  would  have  suffered  that  very  night  if  he  had 
been  married,  and  if  his  wife,  instead  of  rejoicing  over 


56 

his  success,  had  been  flirting  with  some  other  man,  and 
making  her  husband  ridiculous  in  the  sight  of  the 
whole  audience.  Under  the  influence  of  this  awful 
thought  the  dream  of  warm  fingers  twined  within  his 
own,  the  vision  of  a  bright  head  on  his  shoulder  melted 
rapidly  away,  and  he  thanked  the  fates  that  he  was  still 
alone  and  free. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

WHEN  Cecily  came  down  to  breakfast  the  morning 
after  the  first  performance  of  "Koughts  and  Crosses," 
she  looked  anxiously  round  the  table,  and  then  asked 
what  had  become  of  the  newspaper. 

"  Kate  has  taken  it,"  replied  Margaret.  "  She  had 
to  go  off  in  a  hurry  to  interview  somebody.  But  I 
glanced  through  it  first,  and  there  was  nothing 
in  it." 

"Oh,  of  course,  people  always  say  that  after  they 
have  read  a  paper,"  returned  Cecily,  with  pardonable 
irritation.  "  Surely  there  must  have  been  some  notice 
of  the  play?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  the  usual  sort  of  thing.  Lots  of  praise, 
a  very  little  blame,  and  compliments  all  round  to  the 
actors." 

Cecily,  not  feeling  much  the  wiser  for  this  ex- 
plicit account,  took  out  her  purse  and  produced  a 

penny. 

sr 


58  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  Peter,  go  out  and  get  me  a  Daily  Telephone, 
there's  a  dear,"  she  said  coaxingly. 

"  All  right,"  replied  the  boy.  "  I've  got  to  fetch  a 
piece  of  scrag  for  Irish  stew,  so  I'll  get  the  paper  at 
the  same  time." 

When  Peter  returned,  bearing  the  scrag  and  the 
Daily  Telephone,  Cecily  seized  the  latter  and  hastily 
turned  it  over  until  she  arrived  at  the  column  devoted 
to  dramatic  criticism.  The  notice  of  "  Noughts  and 
Crosses "  was  extremely  favourable ;  praise  was  be- 
stowed in  unstinted  measure  upon  the  plot,  the  dia- 
logue and  the  majority  of  the  dramatis  persona,  but 
the  writer,  like  the  critical  lady  in  the  stalls,  regarded 
the  character  of  the  heroine  as  the  one  unsatisfactory 
feature  in  an  otherwise  excellent  play. 

When  Mr.  Dormer  desired  to  create  a  heroine,  ob- 
served the  critic,  he  evidently  followed  the  same 
method  as  the  German  savant  who  intended  to  write 
an  essay  upon  the  camel,  namely,  locked  himself  into 
his  study,  and  evolved  the  animal  out  of  his  inner 
cpnsciousness. 

Cecily's  cheeks  grew  hot  as  she  read  this  disparag- 
ing comment.  The  overflowing  meed  of  praise  that 
had  preceded  it  seemed  to  her  no  more  than  bare 
justice,  while  the  flaw  in  the  tribute  offered  to  her  hero 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  59 

hurt  her  more  than  any  personal  affront  to  her- 
self. She  wondered  whether  Mr.  Dormer  had  been 
annoyed  by  the  criticism ;  she  hoped  that  he  had 
only  treated  the  impertinence  with  dignified  con- 
tempt. 

When  Dormer  arrived  according  to  his  promise, 
Cecily  was  vexed  to  find  herself  more  tongue-tied  than 
ever  in  his  presence,  and  quite  unable  to  join  in  the 
discussion  that  presently  arose  upon  the  merits  of  his 
play.  She  did  not  choose  to  echo  Madge's  unintelli- 
gent praises,  and  it  was  impossible  for  her  to  emulate 
Kate's  coolly  critical  tone.  She  fancied  that  Mr.  Dor- 
mer must  regard  her  as  next  door  to  an  imbecile,  lit- 
tle thinking  that  what  seemed  to  him  her  modest 
diffidence  constituted  her  most  potent  charm  in  his 
eyes.  Miles,  though  he  would  never  have  confessed  it, 
was  afraid  of  women  in  general ;  he  seldom  felt  quite 
at  his  ease  with  them,  and  he  was  haunted  by  a  dread- 
ful suspicion  that  they  were  aware  of  this  weakness, 
and  despised  him  for  it.  lie  had  a  humiliating  con- 
sciousness, moreover,  that  he  did  not  shine  in  society, 
for  his  brain  was  a  slow  worker,  and  the  epigrams  and 
repartees  that  sparkled  in  his  works  were  the  outcome 
of  lonely  walks  and  sleepless  nights.  True,  he  received 
many  more  invitations  than  he  could  accept,  but  that, 


60  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

he  knew,  was  merely  a  tribute  to  his  literary  lionliood, 
and  no  proof  of  personal  popularity. 

Cecily  Tregarthen  was  one  of  the  few  women  he 
knew  who  had  never  inspired  him  with  fear,  and  his 
instinct  told  him  that  she  liked  and  respected  him  as 
a  man,  and  not  merely  as  a  writer  of  books  and  plays. 
Since  he  had  been  introduced  to  the  Tregarthen  family 
by  a  common  friend,  with  the  petition  that  he  would 
give  them  a  helping  hand  if  he  could,  he  had  called  at 
the  flat  from  time  to  time,  his  own  chambers  being  in 
the  neighbourhood.  He  disapproved  of  Margaret,  and 
he  positively  disliked  Kate,  but  he  told  himself  that 
he  was  sorry  for  "  that  nice  youngest  girl,"  and  he  had 
made  more  than  one  attempt  to  find  employment  for 
Peter. 

Cecily  was  utterly  taken  aback  when  Miles  suddenly 
turned  to  her,  and  said  with  a  subtle  change  of  tone  : 

"  I  should  like  to  know  which  part  struck  you  as 
the  best." 

In  her  embarrassment  she  was  on  the  point  of  dis- 
gracing herself  for  ever  by  saying,  "I  don't  know," 
when  a  happy  inspiration  came  to  her  aid,  and  she 
answered  with  conviction : 

"  The  scene  in  the  conservatory  between  Mabel  and 
Lester." 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  61 

Now  this  was  the  principal  love  scene,  and  the  one 
which  the  critics  had  been  almost  unanimous  in 
characterising  as  the  least  successful  in  the  whole 
play. 

"  Ah,  then  you  didn't  think  my  heroine  such  a  poor 
creature  after  all,"  said  Dormer,  his  face  lighting  up 
with  pleasure.  "  You  know  most  people  don't  agree 
with  you  about  the  conservatory  scene." 

"  I  don't  care,"  replied  Cecily.  "  I  thought 
it  beautiful,  and  the  heroine  seemed  quite  real  to 
me." 

"  So  she  did  to  me,"  admitted  Miles.  "  Still,  it  may 
be  that  I  did  not  succeed  in  treating  the  character  so  as 
to  make  her  real  to  other  people.  But  I  am  very  glad 
to  know  that  you  approve  of  her,  and  of  the  conserva- 
tory scene,  because  it  is  quite  possible  that  a  young  girl 
may  have  a  truer  instinct  in  such  matters  than  a  case- 
hardened  critic." 

Cecily  blushed  with  pleasure  at  his  praise,  though 
the  next  moment  her  heart  sank  a  little  as  she  reflected 
that  his  heroine,  that  faultily  faultless  young  person  of 
irreproachable  demeanour,  was  probably  his  feminine 
ideal.  Miles,  meanwhile,  was  remarking  to  himself 
that  the  youngest  Miss  Tregarthen  was  an  unusually 
charming  girl.  In  spite  of  her  objectionable  sisters, 


62  A  STUDY  IX  PREJUDICES. 

and  the  unfortunate  circumstance  that  she  was  com- 
pelled to  work  for  a  living,  she  seemed  to  be  gentle, 
modest  and  reserved,  and  though  he  would  not  accuse 
her  of  any  unwomanly  pretentious  to  intellectuality, 
she  evidently  possessed  that  delicate  feminine  intuition 
which  is  sometimes  a  surer  guide  than  masculine 
knowledge  or  experience.  How  quick  she  had  been  to 
recognise  the  merits  of  his  heroine  and  the  charm  of  his 
love  scene,  points  which  had  quite  escaped  the  dull  eyes 
of  the  professional  critics. 

The  same  evening  as  Dormer  sat  at  work  upon  the 
novel  that  he  had  lately  begun,  the  comparison  of  him- 
self with  the  German  savant  returned  to  his  mind,  and 
he  asked  himself  uneasily  whether  there  might  not  be 
a  measure  of  truth  in  the  accusation.  It  was  a  fact 
that  while  the  majority  of  his  characters  in  both  books 
and  plays  had  been  based  upon,  though  not  copied  from 
living  originals,  his  heroines  had  never  existed  save  in 
his  own  imagination.  They  were  all  more  or  less  faith- 
ful portraits  of  the  ideal  woman  of  his  dreams.  He  was 
obliged  to  admit  that  these  ladies  had  never  been  re- 
ceived with  much  favour  by  the  public.  His  books 
were  greater  favourites  with  men  who  could  appreciate 
their  literary  qualities  than  with  the  general  reader. 
They  had  always  sold  fairly  well,  but  they  had  never 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  63 

run  through  a  dozen  editions  in  six  months,  like  the 
novels  that  hit  the  feminine  taste. 

For  the  first  time  it  occurred  to  him  that  he  might 
stand  a  better  chance  of  success  if  he  were  to  study  his 
heroine  from  the  life.  Hitherto  he  had  never  met  any 
woman  who  so  entirely  satisfied  his  fastidious  taste  that 
he  could  regard  her  as  in  any  degree  the  flesh  and  blood 
embodiment  of  his  feminine  ideal.  But  now  a  girl's 
portrait  seemed  graven  upon  the  tablets  of  his  mind. 
There  was  the  little  head  poised  like  a  flower  upon  the 
white  throat,  the  grey  eyes  shining  with  unconscious 
sympathy,  the  dimple  that  woke  in  the  soft  cheek 
before  a  smile  dawned  upon  the  lips.  It  was  the  por- 
trait of  Cecily  Tregarthen  slightly  idealised  by  his 
imagination.  Could  he  do  better,  he  asked  himself 
suddenly,  than  take  that  sweet  girl,  who  seemed  the 
quintessence  of  all  that  was  pure  and  womanly,  as  the 
original  of  his  next  heroine?  In  order  to  do  this  it 
would,  of  course,  be  necessary  for  him  to  make  oppor- 
tunities for  studying  her  character  and  disposition.  He 
would,  have  to  contrive  excuses  for  calling  more  fre- 
quently at  the  Mansions,  take  his  manuscripts  in  person 
instead  of  sending  them  by  post,  go  to  tea  occasionally 
on  Sundays,  and  perhaps  escort  the  girls  to  a  play  or  a 

concert.     All  this  would  involve  a  good  deal  of  trouble 
5 


64  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

and  waste  of  time,  no  doubt,  but  lie  reminded  himself 
that  no  sacrifice  was  too  great  that  was  made  in  the  in- 
terests of  art. 

In  pursuance  of  this  resolution  he  paid  two  visits  at 
Marylebone  Mansions  in  the  course  of  the  next  ten  days. 
But  on  neither  of  those  occasions  did  he  have  much 
opportunity  of  prosecuting  his  study  of  feminine  char- 
acter. The  first  time  that  he  called,  ostensibly  with  a 
manuscript  for  Madge  to  copy,  Kate  and  Peter  were  at 
home  as  well  as  his  model,  and  the  former  took  the 
lion's  share  of  the  conversation.  His  second  visit, 
which  he  paid  in  the  character  of  negotiator  between 
Cecily  and  his  publishers,  was  on  a  Sunday,  when  he 
found  the  Miss  Tregarthens  entertaining  two  or  three 
friends  at  tea.  On  this  occasion  he  managed  to  get 
Cecily  to  himself  for  a  little  while,  and  succeeded  in- 
making  her  talk  about  her  hopes  and  ambitions  with 
regard  to  her  work.  He  congratulated  himself  upon 
the  fact  that  her  timidity  was  gradually  wearing  off, 
and  he  took  unusual  pains  to  draw  her  out  and  set  her 
at  her  ease  with  him. 

Still  he  was  not  satisfied  with  the  progress  he  had 
made  so  far,  and  in  the  course  of  the  week  he  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  must  try  to  arrange  a  tete-a-tete 
with  the  object  of  his  study,  who,  it  seemed  probable, 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  65 

would  talk  more  freely  to  him  if  she  were  relieved  of 
the  presence  of  her  elder  sisters.  He  remembered  hav- 
ing heard  that  Kate  usually  spent  Saturday  afternoon 
at  the  British  Museum ;  therefore  if  he  were  to  send  a 
concert  ticket  to  Margaret  for  the  following  Saturday, 
there  would  be  every  reason  to  hope  that  he  might  find 
Cecily  alone. 

This  plan  he  carried  out  to  the  letter,  and  felt  not  a 
little  pride  in  his  own  ingenuity  when,  on  calling  at  the 
Mansions  the  next  Saturday  afternoon,  he  was  informed 
by  the  maid-servant  that  only  Miss  Cecily  was  at  home. 
It  was  by  no  means  in  accordance  with  his  sense  of 
what  was  fitting  and  seemly  that  a  young  girl  should 
receive  male  visitors  unchaperoned,  but  he  felt  sure 
that  Cecily  only  committed  this  breach  of  decorum  out 
of  ignorance  of  social  usage,  and  he  was  not  above  tak- 
ing advantage  of  her  ignorance  to  further  the  interests 
of  his  book. 

"  I  am  so  sorry  both  my  sisters  are  out,"  said  Cecily 
rather  nervously,  as  she  shook  hands  with  her  visitor. 
"  But  I  expect  Madge  will  be  home  by  half-past 
five.  She  has  gone  to  St.  James'  Hall  with  the 
ticket  you  kindly  sent  her.  Kate  is  at  the  Museum 
as  usual." 

"  I'm  sorry  to  miss  them,"  returned  Miles  politely. 


66  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  But  perhaps  you  won't  mind  putting  up  with  me  for 
a  little  while." 

"  Putting  up  with  you  ! "  she  echoed,  a  little  dimple 
suddenly  appearing  near  the  corner  of  her  mouth.  "Do 
people  generally  find  much  difficulty  in  putting  up  with 
you?" 

"  I  fancy  young  ladies  think  me  rather  a  bore,"  he 
went  on.  "  I  don't  know  what  to  talk  to  them  about, 
and  they  naturally  consider  me  stupid  and  tiresome." 

"  How  can  you  say  such  things  ?  "  she  exclaimed  in- 
dignantly, defending  him,  as  it  were,  against  his  own 
accusations.  "  They  are  probably  overcome  by  the  hon- 
our of  talking  to  a  distinguished  author." 

"  But  I  don't  care  to  be  regarded  only  in  the  light 
of  an  author,"  he  said,  his  face  clouding  a  little.  "  Peo- 
ple seem  to  think  that  if  a  man  writes  books  he  cannot 
be  a  human  being  as  well." 

"  I  don't,"  returned  Cecily.  "  I  am  sure  that  a  man 
cannot  write  books  worth  reading  unless  there  is  much 
of  the  human  being  in  him.  He  must  have  felt  and 
suffered,  as  well  as  seen  and  heard  a  great  deal." 

"Suffered!  Yes,"  remarked  Miles  rather  grimly. 
"  The  education  of  suffering  is  the  cheapest  and  the 
most  easily  procured  that  I  know  of.  I  have  graduated 
in  that  school  like  other  men." 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  67 

He  was  surprised  at  his  own  words  the  moment  he 
had  uttered  them.  He  had  come  to  the  house  with  the 
intention  of  making  Cecily  talk  about  herself,  and  here 
was  he,  who  scarcely  ever  spoke  of  his  own  feelings  or 
experiences,  actually  beginning  to  confide  in  his  girl- 
hostess. 

"  The  school  of  suffering  doesn't  seem  to  have  hard- 
ened you  as  it  does  some  people,"  she  said.  "  I  think  it 
has  made  you  better  able  to  feel  for  other  people,  and 
more  ready  to  help  them." 

It  was  evident  that  she  was  only  saying  what  she 
honestly  thought  and  believed,  without  any  intention 
of  flattering  her  visitor's  vanity.  Before  Miles  could 
answer,  the  servant  appeared  with  the  tea-tray,  and 
Cecily  going  to  the  table,  began  to  pour  out  the  tea. 
As  Miles  sat  and  watched  her  an  indefinable  sense  of 
comfort  and  well-being  stole  over  him.  It  struck  him 
as  strange  and  at  the  same  time  very  pleasant  that  he 
and  she  should  be  having  tea  alone  together  in  that 
little  room.  The  idea  that  had  occurred  to  him  as  he 
drove  home  from  the  theatre  after  the  first  performance 
of  his  play  returned  to  his  mind.  Again  he  wondered 
how  he  should  feel  if  he  were  married,  and  this  were 
his  young  wife  making  tea  for  him  after  his  long  day's 
labour.  In  imagination  he  seemed  to  hear  that  vision- 


68  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

ary  wife  questioning  him  about  his  work,  hoping  that 
he  was  not  doing  too  much,  begging  him  not  to  over- 
tire  himself,  for  her  sake  as  well  as  his  own. 

Under  the  influence  of  this  idea  he  forgot  all  about 
his  social  duties,  but  sat  gazing  steadily  at  Cecily, 
whose  colour  came  and  went  under  his  unconscious 
scrutiny,  and  whose  eyes  were  rivetted  upon  her  tea- 
tray.  Presently  she  rose,  and  brought  him  a  cup  of 
tea.  As  he  took  it  their  fingers  met,  and  he  awoke 
from  the  dream  to  the  reality.  He  was  only  a  visitor 
in  this,  as  in  every  other  house,  and  to  this  girl  he  was 
no  more  than  a  mere  acquaintance.  Perhaps  she  was 
already  tired  of  him  and  looking  forward  to  the  time 
when  he  should  take  his  departure.  A  sudden  feeling 
of  forlornness  and  desolation  came  over  him,  as  he 
realised  that  there  was  no  one  in  the  world  who  cared 
for  him  first  and  best,  no  human  heart  in  which  he 
reigned  as  monarch  by  the  right  divine  of  love. 

He  looked  up  at  Cecily  as  he  took  the  cup  from  her 
hand  with  a  wistful  expression  like  that  of  a  dog  which 
is  pleading  for  something,  but  which  has  no  words 
wherein  to  frame  its  petition.  Miles  knew  that  he 
wanted  something,  but  he  had  not  yet  any  clear  idea 
what  it  was,  and  he  was  as  incapable  as  a  dumb  animal 
of  asking  for  it.  Cecily  stood  still  for  a  moment, 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  69 

glancing  down  at  him  irresolutely,  a  longing  to  help 
and  comfort  him  in  her  heart. 

"  You  look  very  tired,"  she  said  at  length.  "  I 
hope  you  are  not  working  too  hard." 

Miles  started,  for  those  were  the  very  words  he  had 
fancied  a  possible  wife  might  address  to  him  as  she 
gave  him  his  tea  in  his  own  home.  It  was  curious 
how  that  vision  of  feminine  love  and  solicitude  haunted 
him  as  he  sat  apparently  listening  to  Cecily's  remarks, 
though  he  had  not  the  faintest  idea  what  she  was  talk- 
ing about.  So  real  had  the  dream  become,  that  he  felt 
it  would  be  a  perfectly  natural  proceeding  if  he  were  to 
get  up  and  say : 

"  Now,  my  dear,  I  must  go  back  to  the  study,  and 
get  on  with  my  work." 

He  wondered  what  Cecily,  or  rather  his  imaginary 
wife,  would  reply.  Would  she  beg  him  to  stay  and  talk 
to  her  a  little^  longer,  and  tell  him  how  lonely  she  was 
without  him,  or  would  she  encourage  him  to  go  on 
with  his  work,  and  suppress  all  personal  hopes  and 
wishes  in  her  unselfish  desire  for  his  success  ?  As  he 
looked  questioningly  across  at  his  hostess,  it  suddenly 
dawned  upon  him  that  she  was  sitting  quite  silent 
with  a  little  flush  upon  her  cheeks,  and  a  troubled 
look  in  her  eyes.  He  jumped  up  in  embarrass- 


70  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

ment,  scarcely  knowing  where  he  was  or  what  he  was 
saying. 

"  I'm  afraid  I've  been  dreadfully  rude,"  he  ex- 
claimed. "  But  the  fact  is,  from  living  so  much  alone 
I  get  absent  fits  sometimes  which  make  me  quite  unfit 
for  human  society.  You  see  I  was  speaking  no  more 
than  the  truth  when  I  told  you  that  I  was  too  dull 
and  stupid  to  get  on  with  young  ladies." 

"  You  have  never  been  anything  but  kind  and 
pleasant  to  me,"  said  Cecily,  an  unmistakable  ring  of 
sincerity  in  her  tones.  "  I  saw  that  you  were  thinking 
of  something  else  just  now,  so  I  held  my  tongue  for 
fear  my  chatter  should  lose  you  a  valuable  idea." 

"  It  is  very  good  of  you  to  forgive  me,"  said  Miles, 
holding  out  his  hand. 

"  Must  you  go  ?  "  she  asked.  "  I  thought  perhaps 
you  would  wait  till  Madge  came  home." 

Her  words  might  have  been  inspired  by  mere  con- 
ventional politeness,  but  he  fancied  that  he  could  de- 
tect a  note  of  genuine  regret  in  her  tone.  His  empty 
heart,  his  long-repressed  emotions,  began  slowly  to 
awaken  at  the  strange  delicious  thought  that  this  beau- 
tiful young  creature  had  a  kindly  feeling  for  him,  that 
she  was  glad  to  have  him  with  her,  sorry  when  he 
parted  from  her. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  71 

"  Would  you  rather  I  stayed  ?  "  he  asked  in  a  husky 
voice  that  he  scarcely  recognised  as  his  own. 

"Yes,"  answered  Cecily  quite  simply,  looking  him 
straight  in  the  face  with  her  truthful  eyes. 

She  had  scarcely  uttered  the  little  monosyllable 
than  everything  became  clear  to  Miles.  He  knew  what 
it  was  he  wanted  of  her,  what  it  was  that  she  could 
give  him  if  she  would.  But  the  shy  reserved  man, 
who  had  never  been  a  favourite  with  women,  found  it 
impossible  to  believe  that  there  was  any  hope  of  his  at- 
taining his  desire,  while  his  whole  nature  shrank  from 
the  possibility  of  receiving  a  repulse. 

"You — you  couldn't  care  for  me  a  little,  could 
you  ?  "  he  asked  in  the  same  uncertain,  quavering  tones. 

The  wistfulness  of  his  glance,  the  timid  longing  in 
his  words,  went  straight  to  the  girl's  impulsive  heart, 
and  kindled  a  flame  therein. 

"Oh!"  she  exclaimed,  her  eyes  and  mouth  opening 
simultaneously  at  the  suddenness  of  the  revelation  that 
forced  itself  upon  her.  "  I  believe  I  could !  " 


CHAPTER  VII. 

IT  was  characteristic  of  both  the  man  and  the 
woman  that  he  should  have  asked  for  a  confession  of 
love,  and  that  she  should  have  given  it,  before  he  made 
any  avowal  of  his  own  feelings.  Miles  never  could 
quite  remember  what  happened  next,  for  the  assurance 
that  he  was  beloved  went  to  his  head  like  new  wine. 
But  a  few  moments  later  he  found  himself  sitting  in 
an  easy-chair  with  Cecily  in  his  arms.  Her  face  was 
hidden  on  his  shoulder,  and  he  was  kissing  her  hair, 
and  murmuring  at  intervals : 

"  I  love  you — I  love  you — I  love  you." 

He,  who  had  always  prided  himself  on  his  com, 
mand  of  language,  could  not  for  the  moment  think  of 
anything  else  to  say ;  the  rest  of  his  extensive  vocabu. 
lary  had  gone  completely  out  of  his  head.  He  felt  as 
if  he  had  forgotten  all  he  ever  knew,  as  if  he  were 
ignorant  of  everything  save  the  one  exquisite  fact  that 
he  loved  and  was  beloved. 

72 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  73 

As  he  grew  somewhat  calmer,  he  began  to  long  for 
the  sight  of  the  face  and  the  sound  of  the  voice  that 
now  belonged  to  him  alone,  had  been  created,  it  ap- 
peared, for  his  sovereign  pleasure.  He  put  his  hand 
under  Cecily's  chin  and  turned  her  face  up  to  his. 
Iler  cheeks  were  pale,  and  her  eyes  looked  heavy  and 
half-dazed,  like  the  eyes  of  a  woman  who  has  just 
awoke  out  of  a  long  sleep.  As  she  smiled  back  at  him 
with  the  frankness  of  a  happy  child,  he  could  read  her 
heart  like  an  open  book,  and  he  realised  that  she  had 
given  herself  to  him  with  completest  self-surrender. 
Even  in  that  moment  of  perfect  happiness  he  could 
not  help  remembering  the  conduct  of  his  latest  heroine 
when  going  through  a  similar  experience,  her  bashful 
flutterings,  her  maidenly  reserve,  and  the  admirable 
sentiments  to  which  she  gave  utterance  as  she  gently 
rebuked  her  young  lover  for  his  too  impetuous  method 
of  courtship.  Had  the  critics  been  justified  in  their 
disparaging  comments  on  the  lady's  behaviour  after  all, 
or — and  his  heart  stood  still  at  the  thought — was 
Cecily's  happy  fearlessness  due  to  the  fact  that  this 
was  not  her  first  experience  of  the  tender  passion,  that 
she  had  played  a  leading  part  before  in  the  drama  of 
love? 

"  Cecily,"  he  exclaimed,  his  anxiety  betraying  itself 


T4  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

in  his  voice,  "have  you  ever  cared  for  any  man 
before?" 

"  Never,"  she  replied  with  perfect  truth,  for  though 
she  had  often  played  at  sentiment  no  man  had  ever 
touched  her  heart. 

"  No  other  man  has  ever  kissed  you,  or  held  you  in 
his  arms  ?  "  demanded  Miles. 

There  was  a  scarcely  perceptible  pause,  and  then 
Cecily  answered  steadily  as  she  looked  him  straight  in 
the  eyes : 

"  No,  you  are  the  first." 

It  was  a  lie,  but  at  that  moment  she  would  have 
committed  a  crime  to  keep  the  treasure  she  had  so 
newly  won.  The  truth,  she  was  persuaded,  would  have 
lost  her  the  love  of  her  hero,  who  had  so  unexpectedly 
stooped  from  his  pedestal  to  raise  her  to  his  side ;  but 
as  she  uttered  the  denial,  she  made  a  mental  vow  that 
though  he  was  not  the  first  lover  he  should  be  the 
last. 

"  Darling,  no  one  could  look  in  your  eyes  and  doubt 
it,"  exclaimed  Miles  rapturously,  as  he  pressed  his 
cheek  to  hers.  "  How  soft  your  cheeks  are,"  he  went 
on,  in  a  tone  of  surprise,  as  though  he  had  expected  to 
find  them  hard  or  rough.  As  a  matter  of  fact  every- 
thing about  her  seemed  new  and  wonderful  now  that 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  75 

he  realised  that  she  and  all  her  beauty  and  sweetness 
were  really  his. 

"  You  have  such  lovely  hair,"  he  murmured,  as  a 
coil  slipped  down  and  fell  upon  his  hand. 

She  twisted  the  shining  strand  round  his  wrist. 

"Now  I  have  caught  you  in  my  chains,"  she  cried, 
with  a  little  laugh.  "  You  will  never  he  able  to  get 
away  again." 

Her  laughter  rang  strangely  in  her  lover's  ears.  His 
ideal  heroine  was  always  in  such  deadly  earnest;  she 
wept  often,  and  fainted  occasionally,  but  he  could  not 
remember  that  he  had  ever  permitted  her  to  laugh. 

"  As  if  I  needed  any  chains  to  keep  me  by  you,"  he 
said,  pressing  his  lips  to  her  hair.  "  My  sweetheart,  my 
wife." 

It  had  just  occurred  to  him  that  so  far  he  had  asked 
Cecily  for  nothing  but  her  kisses,  a  fact  which  might 
cause  them  some  embarrassment  if  they  were  to  be  sur- 
prised in  their  present  position.  A  delicious  tremor  ran 
through  him  as  he  uttered  the  words  "  My  wife  " ;  they 
sounded  to  him  so  solemn  and  beautiful.  To  Cecily, 
however,  they  came  like  a  breath  of  chill  air  on  the 
first  glow  of  her  happiness.  Marriage  meant  common- 
place cares,  duties  and  anxieties,  when  she  desired 
nothing  but  love,  caresses,  and  freedom  to  rejoice  in 


76  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

her  youth.  At  her  lover's  words  the  recollection  of 
certain  married  couples  of  her  acquaintance  forced 
itself  upon  her  mind;  the  bored  indifferent  husband, 
the  stout  uninteresting  wife,  with  their  spoilt  children, 
squabbles  about  bills,  and  endless  household  worries. 
Consequently  she  did  not  respond  with  any  enthusiasm 
to  Miles's  last  remark. 

"  Oh,  don't  call  me  your  wife,"  she  exclaimed ;  "  it 
sounds  so  dull  and  middle-aged.  Call  me  your  sweet- 
heart as  often  as  you  like." 

"But  we  are  engaged,  aren't  we?"  put  in  Miles  with 
some  anxiety.  "  You  will  be  my  wife  some  day?" 

"  Oh  yes,  some  day,"  said  Cecily  easily.  "  But  we 
needn't  think  about  it  now;  we  have  plenty  of  time 
before  us,  and  we  are  so  happy  as  we  are.  Oh 
dear,  it's  striking  half-past  five,  and  Madge  will  be  in 
directly." 

"  Then  give  me  a  kiss,"  returned  Miles,  with  appar- 
ent irrelevance,  though,  as  Cecily  complied  with  his  re- 
quest, he  felt  that  he  had  never  made  a  more  appropri- 
ate remark. 

A  few  minutes  later  the  sound  of  a  key  turning  in 
the  lock  roused  the  lovers  from  their  happy  absorption 
in  each  other,  and  their  forgetfulness  of  all  the  world 
besides.  Cecily  sprang  out  of  Miles's  arms,  and  rushing 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  77 

to  the  glass,  pinned  up  the  fallen  lock,  and  smoothed 
down  her  ruffled  curls.  Madge's  surprise  at  finding 
Mr.  Dormer  tete-a-tete  with  her  sister  quickly  changed 
to  a  suspicion  that  something  unusual  had  occurred, 
while  the  suspicion  gave  way  to  sisterly  rejoicings  at 
the  news  which  Miles  announced  to  her.  An  engage- 
ment, whether  it  came  to  anything  or  not,  was  always 
an  interesting  and  exciting  event  in  Madge's  eyes,  and 
she  was  a  young  woman  of  experience  in  such  matters, 
having  been  engaged  more  than  once  herself  to  various 
members  of  "the  service."  From  her  delighted  con- 
gratulations Miles  presently  escaped,  after  arranging  to 
come  the  following  afternoon  and  take  Cecily  for  a 
walk  in  the  Park. 

The  news  of  the  engagement  was  received  with  less 
enthusiasm  by  the  other  two  members  of  the  family., 
Peter  expressed  his  opinion,  in  Cecily's  absence,  that 
Mr.  Dormer,  though  "not  a  bad  sort  of  chap  in  his 
way,"  was  too  old  and  too  solemn  for  his  sister,  while 
upon  Margaret  remarking  that  Cecily  was  a  very  lucky 
girl,  Kate  burst  forth  indignantly : — 

"  Lucky !  Lucky  to  lose  her  liberty,  and  all  chance 
of  doing  anything  in  the  world  at  two-and-twenty ! 
You  will  see,  her  talent  will  be  completely  thrown 
away.  She  will  become  a  mere  appendage  to  that  man, 


78  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

the  wife  of  his  bosom,  the  mother  of  his  children,  and 
nothing  more." 

"  And  enough  too,"  said  Madge  sturdily.  "  After 
all,  even  you  must  admit  that  marriage  is  the  most 
natural  lot  for  a  woman." 

"  I  don't  admit  anything  of  the  sort,"  retorted  Kate. 
"Monogamous  marriage  happens  ^to  be  the  custom  of 
the  country,  but  custom  is  not  nature,  though  thanks  to 
•woman's  fatal  adaptability  it  is  apt  to  become  second 
nature.  If  celibacy  became  the  fashion  the  women 
who  married  would  be  considered  objectionably  eccen- 
tric, while  if  polygamy  should  ever  be  legalised  in  Eng- 
land people  would  declare  that  it  was  woman's  natural 
lot  to  be  one  of  half-a-dozen  wives.  If  she  wanted  to 
have  a  husband  to  herself  she  would  be  called  a  '  new 
woman '  or  a  '  shrieking  sister.'  I  believe  there  is  more 
cant  talked  about  women  than  about  any  other  subject 
under  the  sun." 

"  Well,  I  can't  argue  about  it,"  said  Madge  good- 
humouredly,  as  delightful  visions  of  long  days  spent  in 
choosing  new  clothes  floated  through  her  brain.  "  All 
I  know  is  that  Cecily  is  very  happy  and  I  am  very 
pleased,  and  that  is  enough  for  me." 

When  Miles  arrived  at  Marylebone  Mansions  the 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  79 

next  afternoon  he  found  that  Cecily's  family  had  con- 
siderately taken  themselves  out  of  the  way,  and  left  her 
to  receive  him  alone.  She  was  more  shy  with  him  than 
she  had  been  on  the  previous  day,  and  seemed  anxious 
to  set  out  at  once  for  their  walk.  But  Miles  was  in  no 
hurry  to  leave  the  quiet  little  room  where  he  had  his 
sweetheart  to  himself.  He  wanted  a  repetition  of  the 
delights  of  the  day  before,  delights  that  more  than 
once  during  the  past  night  he  had  feared  to  wake  and 
find  only  an  exquisite  dream. 

"  Sit  down  and  talk  to  me  for  a  little  while,"  he 
said,  trying  to  remove  Cecily's  hat  with  clumsy  fingers, 
and  surprised  to  find  that  it  was  pinned  to  her  hair. 
"  I  want  you  to  tell  me  why  you  were  awake  so  late  last 
night." 

"  How  did  you  know  I  was  ?  "  asked  Cecily. 

"  Because  lovers  are  foolish  creatures,  darling,  a  fact 
that  I  have  just  been  proving  in  my  own  person. 
Last  night  as  I  was  walking  home  after  dining  at  the 
club  I  saw  a  fire-engine  tearing  up  Regent  Street 
Though  it  might  have  been  on  its  way  to  any  house  in 
North  London,  a  horrible  fear  seized  me  lest  it  should 
be  going  to  Marylebone  Mansions,  so  I  took  a  cab  to  this 
door  to  satisfy  myself  that  all  was  right.  There  was  no 

fire,  but  there  was  a  light  in  one  of  these  rooms.     I 
6 


80  A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES. 

thought  perhaps  you  were  ill,  so  I  walked  up  and  down 
till  the  light  was  put  out,  which  was  not  until  two 
o'clock,  and  then  I  went  home." 

"  The  light  was  in  my  room,"  said  Cecily,  laughing. 
"  But  Kate  sleeps  with  me,  and  she  usually  reads  some 
abstruse  book  till  the  small  hours  of  the  morning.  I 
wish  I  had  known  you  were  outside ;  I  should  have 
come  and  peeped  at  you  through  the  curtain." 

"  You  darling ! "  he  exclaimed,  clasping  her  in  his 
arms.  "  Do  you  know,  Cecily,  I  must  warn  you  that  I 
am  of  a  fearfully  jealous  disposition.  I  don't  believe 
I  should  have  fallen  in  love  with  you  if  I  had  not 
guessed  that  no  other  man  had  ever  caressed  you,  and  I 
expect  I  shall  be  a  regular  Bluebeard  of  a  husband.  I 
feel  as  if  I  should  like  to  practise  Merlin's  charm  upon 
you,  the  charm  of  '  woven  paces  and  waving  hands,'  by 
virtue  of  which  no  man  would  see  you  more,  nor  you 
see  any  man  but  me." 

"  Ah,"  said  Cecily,  whose  cheek  had  turned  suddenly 
pale.  "  But  the  woman  on  whom  the  charm  was 
worked  '  lay  as  dead,  and  lost  all  use  of  life.'  You 
wouldn't  wish  me  such  a  fate  as  that  ?  " 

"  As  long  as  you  were  alive  to  me,  your  husband, 
your  life  would  be  put  to  its  best  and  sweetest  use," 
replied  Miles.  "  However,  unfortunately,  the  charm  is 


A   STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  81 

lost,  and  I  cannot  prevent  other  men  from  seeing  you. 
But  unless  you  always  love  me  first  and  best,  we  shall 
both  of  us  live  to  repent  that  we  ever  met." 

"  Of  course  I  shall  always  love  you  first  and  best," 
she  answered.  "  But  don't  let  us  be  so  tragic.  I  want 
you  to  take  me  across  the  park  to  Mrs.  Marchmont's 
house  in  Cornwall  Gardens.  You  are  to  leave  me  at 
her  door,  because  I  want  to  tell  her  all  about — about 
you  and  me.  She  is  the  best  friend  I  have  in  the 
world.  Ever  since  we  came  to  London  she  has  taken 
me  about  with  her,  and  lent  me  things  when  I  had 
nothing  to  wear,  and  been  as  kind  ta  me  as  if  she  were 
my  elder  sister." 

"  Then  she  and  I  must  be  friends,"  said  Miles,  as 
he  followed  Cecily  down  the  stairs.  "  I  have  met  her 
occasionally,  and  always  felt  sorry  for  her,  because  she 
has  such  a  little  blackguard  of  a  husband." 

"  Yes,  poor  dear,"  exclaimed  Cecily  mournfully. 
"And  she  is  so  good  and  brave;  I  have  never  heard 
her  utter  a  word  of  complaint.  And  yet  it  must  be  so 
awful  to  have  a  husband  like  Mr.  Marchmout.  I  would 
far  rather  live  and  die  an  old  maid  than  marry  a  man 
who  was  not  as  good  as — as  you." 

"  I  wish  we  were  in  a  wood,"  returned  Miles,  who 
felt  that  under  the  circumstances  it  was  very  incon- 


82  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

siderate  of  the  public  to  throng  the  streets.  "  But  I 
don't  know  why  you  should  think  me  good.  I  have 
told  you  that  I  am  very  jealous,  and  now  I  am  going  to 
ask  you  something  which  will  probably  make  you  con- 
sider me  a  very  fussy,  tiresome  person." 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  she  asked  rather  anxiously.  "  Break 
it  to  me  gently." 

"  Well,  in  the  first  place  I  want  you  to  give  up 
sitting  to  Fleming.  I  don't  know  anything  definite 
against  him,  but  he  has  the  reputation  of  being  a 
queer  wild  sort  of  fellow,  and  I  don't  like  the  idea 
of  your  running  in  and  out  of  his  studio  by  your- 
self." 

"  Oh,  is  that  all  ?  "  said  Cecily,  much  relieved.  "  I 
decided  at  the  last  sitting  that  I  would  only  give  him 
one  more.  He  has  been  away  lately,  but  when  he 
comes  back  I  am  going  for  a  final  seance.  His  sister  is 
generally  there,  you  know." 

"  I  should  hope  so,"  returned  Miles.  "  But  that 
isn't  all,  Cecily.  If  you  wish  to  please  me  you  won't 
go  out  alone  more  than  you  can  help.  I  shall  prob- 
ably be  able  to  take  you  out  nearly  every  afternoon, 
but  when  I  am  "not  able  to  go  with  you,  perhaps  you 
could  get  Peter  or  one  of  your  sisters  to  accompany 
you." 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  83 

"  Of  course  I  wish  to  please  you,"  she  said,  a  little 
taken  aback  at  this  proposed  curtailment  of  her  free- 
dom. "  But  in  our  circumstances  a  chaperon  is  gen- 
erally looked  upon  as  a  superfluous  luxury.  It  is  often 
a  choice  between  going  out  alone,  and  not  going  out 
at  all.  Still,  I  would  rather  be  shut  up  all  day  than 
do  anything  to  vex  you.  So  I  promise  that  I  will  not 
go  out  alone  oftener  than  I  can  possibly  help." 

"  Thank  you,  dearest,"  he  said,  inwardly  congratu- 
lating himself  upon  having  secured  such  a  sweet,  yield- 
ing creature  for  his  wife.  "And  you  know  you  can 
put  an  end  to  the  present  state  of  things  whenever 
you  please.  You  seem  to  dislike  the  idea  of  a  speedy 
marriage,  yet  what  have  we  to  wait  for  ?  I  am  not  a 
rich  man,  but  I  am  making  a  very  fair  income  now, 
and  I  would  insure  my  life  for  your  benefit,  as  well  as 
settle  upon  you  what  little  money  I  have  of  my  own. 
I  am  so  much  older  than  you,  and  I  have  had  so  little 
happiness  in  the  past ;  why  should  we  remain  apart 
longer  than  is  absolutely  necessary?  You  could  be 
ready  to  marry  me  in  a  month,  couldn't  you  ?  and  then 
we  could  go  abroad  while  our  house  was  being  pre- 
pared for  us." 

"  Oh,  don't  talk  about  anything  so  prosy  as  houses 
and  settlements,"  exclaimed  Cecily  with  a  touch  of 


84  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

petulance.  "  We  are  very  well  as  we  are ;  why  should 
we  tempt  Providence  by  trying  to  improve  our  con- 
dition ?  Eemember,  when  a  man  marries  his  troubles 
begin ;  much  more  a  woman's.  Tell  me  you  love  me, 
and  don't  hint  at  anything  so  dreadful  as  insuring 
your  life." 

"  You  know  I  love  you  with  all  my  heart,"  replied 
Miles  fervently.  "  But  that  is  just  the  reason  why  I 
want  no  more  partings,  no  more  good-byes.  However, 
we  won't  talk  about  it  now  if  you  don't  wish  it.  You 
have  been  a  good  girl  to  give  in  about  the  other 
matters." 

"  It  is  not  a  question  of  giving  in,"  she  said,  slightly 
ruffled  by  his  tone.  "  It  is  my  pleasure  to  do  as  you 
wish.  I  do  it  of  my  own  free  will,  out  of  love  to 
you." 

"  Well,  the  motive  doesn't  much  matter,"  he  an- 
swered, laughing,  "  as  long  as  the  result  is  satisfactory. 
Now  I  suppose  we  must  say  good-bye,  if  I  am  really  to 
leave  you  at  Mrs.  Marchmont's  door.  To-morrow  I  am 
coming  in  the  morning,  because  I  want  to  take  you  out 
to  lunch  with  my  half-sister,  Mrs.  Bingley.  She  is 
very  anxious  to  make  your  acquaintance." 

"Is  she  like  you?  Shall  I  get  on  with  her?" 
asked  Cecily  rather  nervously. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  85 

"  I  don't  think  she  is  much  like  me,  but  she  is  a 
very  sensible  woman,  and  what  used  to  be  called  a 
notable  housewife.  She  will  be  able  to  give  you  plenty 
of  useful  advice  when  you  have  a  house  and  servants 
of  your  own." 

"  That  will  be  very  kind  of  her,"  said  Cecily, 
though  she  did  not  look  particularly  delighted  at  the 
prospect. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

"  So  the  first  volume  has  come  to  an  end,  and  the 
second  volume  is  just  beginning,"  said  Mrs.  March- 
mont,  a  pretty,  pale  woman  of  about  eight-and-twenty, 
when  Cecily  had  announced  her  news.  "  Do  you  know 
I  fancied  that  Jasper  Fleming  was  going  to  be  the 
hero  of  your  life's  romance." 

"  Oh  no,"  said  Cecily,  blushing  rather  uncomfort- 
ably. "  He  is  very  nice,  but  he  is  not  my  idea  of  a  hus- 
band. I  think  that  marriage,  especially  for  a  woman 
who  has  been  silly  and  thoughtless  in  her  youth,  ought 
to  be  a  fresh  start  in  life.  I  always  hoped  that  I 
should  marry  a  wise,  strong  man  who  would  teach  me 
to  become  wise  and  strong  too." 

"Wisdom  and  strength  are  not  the  qualities  men 
generally  desire  in  their  wives,"  said  Mrs.  Marchmont, 
with  a  faint  sneer.  "  Don't  cherish  too  many  illusions 
about  your  future  husband,  my  dear,  or  the  disappoint- 
ment will  be  all  the  more  bitter  when  you  find  out 
that  he  is  a  mere  man  after  all." 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  87 

"  I  have  no  illusions  about  Miles,  and  he  will  never 
disappoint  me,"  said  Cecily  stoutly.  "  I  know  his 
only  two  faults  already.  He  has  told  me  that  he  is 
jealous,  and  I  have  found  out  that  he  likes  his  own  way." 

"  And  he  doesn't  forgive .  easily  ;  I  can  read  that 
in  his  face.  You  will  have  to  mind  your  p's  and  q's, 
my  dear  girl,  when  you  are  Mrs.  Dormer.  No  more 
flirtations,  no  more  indiscretions,  no  more  escapades, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  a  tame  and  sober  existence  with 
a  strict  observance  of  all  social  laws  and  conventions. 
I  fancy  that  your  Miles  sacrifices  at  the  altar  of  the 
Goddess  Grundy." 

"  Then  that  proves  that  the  Goddess  Grundy  is  a 
very  nice  person,"  said  Cecily.  "  I  am  tired  of  doing 
as  I  like.  I  shall  do  what  Miles  likes  in  the  future ; 
he  will  be  my  conscience." 

"  And  when  are  you  going  to  take  your  conscience 
for  better  for  worse?" 

"  Oh,  not  for  ages ;  a  year,  perhaps,  or  more. 
There  is  no  hurry." 

Rosamund  Marchmont  laughed.  "  You  are  quite 
right,"  she  said.  "  It  is  far  better  to  be  engaged  than 
married  to  a  conscience.  Then  you  can  always  escape 
from  it  if  it  pricks  you  unpleasantly.  Have  you  been 
introduced  to  any  new  relations  yet  ?  " 


88  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"No,  Miles  is  going  to  take  me  to  lunch  with  his 
half-sister,  Mrs.  Bingley,  on  Tuesday.  He  says  she  will 
give  me  good  advice  about  housekeeping." 

"  Poor  Cecily  !  Yes,  Mrs.  Bingley  is  understood  to 
have  the  whole  theory  of  domestic  management  at  her 
finger-ends.  You  will  have  lectures  on  the  iniquity  of 
tradespeople,  the  short-comings  of  servants,  and  the 
proper  training  of  children,  with  object-lessons  in  the 
same.  I  lunched  with  her  once.  Again  I  say,  poor 
Cecily!" 

On  her  return  home  Cecily  found  a  note  awaiting 
her,  the  sight  of  which  gave  her  a  little  shock  of  un- 
easiness and  remorse.  It  was  from  Jasper  Fleming, 
and  stated  that  he  had  returned  the  night  before  from 
Paris,  and  hoped  that  she  would  come  to  the  studio  for 
a  lesson  or  a  sitting  the  next  morning.  Cecily,  in  the 
first  agitation  of  her  new  happiness,  had  succeeded  in 
putting  Mr.  Fleming  and  the  possible  pain  that  her  en- 
gagement might  cause  him  out  of  her  head.  At  the 
bottom  of  her  heart  she  knew  that  his  feeling  for  her, 
whether  consciously  or  not,  was  something  more  than 
the  playful  friendship  that  she  had  tried  to  believe  it. 
The  recollection  of  her  behaviour  to  him  as  well  as  to 
other  admirers  oppressed  her  now,  and  took  off  the  edge 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  89 

of  her  delight  ill  Miles's  love.  She  had  not  meant  to 
do  wrong,  or  to  make  any  one  unhappy,  but  she  realised 
for  the  first  time  that  she  had  often  acted  thoughtlessly 
and  selfishly  in  giving  encouragement  to  men  who  were 
indifferent  to  her,  that  she  had  taken  a  mischievous 
pleasure  in  playing  with  fire,  and,  knowing  that  her 
own  fingers  were  safe,  had  felt  but  little  pity  when  a 
playmate  was  scorched. 

This  reprehensible  conduct  had  been  caused  partly, 
no  doubt,  by  the  fact  that  she  herself  had  never  known 
a  heart-ache.  It  had  been  so  hard  to  believe  that  what 
was  only  play  to  her  might  mean  suffering  to  another. 
Besides,  it  was  almost  impossible  to  one  of  Cecily's  na- 
ture to  treat  with  severity  a  man  whose  only  fault  was 
that  he  liked  and  admired  her.  She  would  tell  herself 
that  Mr.  So-and-So  merely  meant  to  be  kind  and  pleas- 
ant, and  that,  consequently,  there  was  no  need  to  snub 
his  attentions ;  but  when  it  became  clear  that  he  meant 
something  more  than  kindness,  she  would  feel  bound  to 
try  and  console  him  for  his  disappointment. 

Now  that  she  had  learnt  what  love  meant,  however, 
all  these  little  excuses  and  palliations  faded  away,  and 
left  her  nothing  but  remorse  for  the  follies  and  indis- 
cretions of  her  girlhood.  She  had  been  obliged  to  lie 
to  her  lover  in  the  first  moment  of  their  mutual  happi- 


90  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

ness,  and  the  sweetness  of  his  caresses  was  clouded  by 
regret  that  she  had  not  kept  herself  for  him,  that  other 
men  had  had  the  first  fruits  of  her  lips.  There  would 
always  be  the  possibility  that  Miles  would  find  out  that 
she  had  deceived  him,  that  she  was  not  the  .inexperi- 
enced girl  he  fondly  thought  her.  She  put  the  idea  res- 
olutely away  from  her,  however.  Miles  would  never  find 
out,  or  if  he  did,  he  would  have  learnt  to  love  and  trust 
her  so  well  by  that  time  that  he  would  certainly  forgive 
her.  She  was  determined  never  to  cause  him  a  mo- 
ment's uneasiness,  but  to  make  him  as  good  and  faith- 
ful a  wife  as  if  she  had  really  been  the  ideal  maiden  of 
his  dreams. 

It  was  with  rather  a  sinking  heart  that  Cecily  set 
forth  upon  her  last  visit  to  the  studio.  She  found  Mr. 
Fleming  alone,  his  sister,  as  he  explained,  being  too  un- 
well to  see  anyone  that  morning.  Jasper,  like  his  visi- 
tor, seemed  in  rather  subdued  spirits. 

"  I  did  not  enjoy  myself  at  all,"  he  said,  in  answer 
to  Cecily's  inquiry  about  his  stay  in  Paris.  "But  I 
made  a  discovery  while  I  was  away,  a  discovery  that  I 
want  to  tell  you  about  this  morning." 

"  I  made  a  discovery,  too,  while  you  were  away,"  re- 
marked Cecily.  "  And  I  want  to  tell  you  about  it  this 
morning." 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  91 

"  Well,  tell  me  yours  first,"  he  said,  "  then  the 
ground  will  be  clear  for  my  story." 

"  No,  I  would  rather  you  told  me  yours  first,"  re- 
turned Cecily,  who  welcomed  the  chance  of  postponing 
her  announcement.  "  Mine  will  keep." 

"  Very  well  then.  Come  and  sit  down  here,  and  pre- 
pare for  a  shock." 

Cecily  seated  herself  obediently  and  waited,  but 
Jasper  seemed  to  have  a  difficulty  in  beginning  his 
tale. 

"  Well,"  she  said  at  length.     "  What  is  it  ?  " 

"It  is  this,"  he  answered,  speaking  with  evident 
effort.  "  When  I  got  to  Paris,  I  discovered  something 
that  I  ought  to  have  known  long  ago — Oh,  Cecily,  can't 
you  guess  what  it  was  ?  " 

The  girl  gave  a  little  start  of  dismay. 

"  No,  I  can't,"  she  said  hastily ;  "  and  I  don't  think 
I  want  to  hear  your  discovery.  I  would  rather  tell  you 
mine  at  once.  It  is  that " 

"  No,  no,  wait,"  he  cried.  "  Hear  me  out.  I  real- 
ised as  soon  as  I  was  far  away  from  you  that  I  loved 
you,  that  you  were  the  only  woman  in  the  world  for 
me.  I  must  tell  you  this  even  though  you  do  not,  and 
perhaps  never  may,  care  anything  for  me.  But,  Cecily, 
I  want  you  to  give  me  the  chance  of  winning  you. 


92  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

Sometimes  I  have  thought  that  you  liked  me  a  little, 
that  you  were  glad  to  be  with  me,  and  as  long  as  you 
are  heart-whole,  there  is  always  the  hope  that  I  may  be 
able  to  change  your  little  liking  into  something 
warmer." 

"  Oh  dear,"  exclaimed  Cecily,  jumping  up  from  her 
chair,  and  going  to  the  other  side  of  the  room.  "  How 
dreadful  everything  is !  What  a  wicked  girl  I  have 
been ! " 

Her  conscience  was  reproaching  her  sharply  for  the 
encouragement  that  she  had  given  her  friend  to  think 
that  she  liked  him  a  little,  and  even  more  than  a  little. 
She  sat  down  by  the  table  and  leant  her  head  on  her 
hands  in  an  attitude  of  despondency  and  self-abasement. 
Jasper,  surprised  and  alarmed  at  her  behaviour,  came 
and  stood  beside  her. 

"What  is  it?"  he  inquired  anxiously.  "I  am  not 
asking  you  for  anything  now,  dear.  I  only  wanted  to 
tell  you  what  I  felt  for  you.  I  shall  be  contented  to 
wait  months,  or  even  years,  on  just  a  grain  of  hope  that 
there  might  be  a  chance  for  me  some  day." 

He  felt  considerably  more  confidence  than  his  words 
implied.  He  knew  that  Cecily  had  enjoyed  her  visits 
to  the  studio,  he  knew  that  she  had  taken  pleasure  in 
his  society,  that  she  admired  his  talent,  and  was  grate- 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  93 

ful  for  his  kindness,  and  sometimes  he  had  fancied  that 
she  was  growing  to  regard  him  with  a  yet  warmer  feel- 
ing. In  short,  there  seemed  to  be  no  reason  why  he 
should  not  teach  her  the  lesson  of  love. 

"  Cecily,"  he  urged  as  he  stooped  over  her,  "  look 
up,  and  say  that  you  are  going  to  be  kind  to  me." 

She  raised  a  pale,  penitent  face  to  his.  "  I  want 
you  to  forgive  me,"  she  murmured.  "  I  have  behaved 
very  badly,  but  I  did  not  mean  to  make  you  unhappy. 
I  did  not  know  it  myself  till — till " 

"  Know  what  ? "  he  asked  sharply,  a  sudden  sus- 
picion darting  into  his  mind.  "Not — not  that  there  is 
some  one  else  ?  " 

Cecily  dropped  her  head  on  her  hands  again,  and 
the  suspicion  became  a  certainty.  Jasper  strolled 
across  the  room  to  the  window,  where  he  stood  for  a 
few  moments  in  silence,  staring  intently  at  a  milkman 
who  was  carrying  on  a  promising  flirtation  with  the 
cook  at  the  opposite  house.  Why,  he  wondered 
vaguely,  should  the  course  of  a  milkman's  love  run 
smooth  when  his  own  suffered  shipwreck  ? 

"  Well,"  he  remarked,  scarcely  knowing  what  he 
said,  "  I  ought  to  be  very  lucky  at  cards." 

There  was  another  silence  for  a  few  moments,  and 
then  Jasper  heard  something  like  a  subdued  sniff,  a 


94  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

sound  that  instantly  made  him  forget  himself  and  his 
own  disappointment. 

"  You're  not  crying?"  he  said,  hurrying  across  the 
room  to  the  table  where  the  girl  still  sat  with  her  face 
bowed  on  her  arms.  "  Cecily,  you  must  not  mind  about 
me.  It  wasn't  your  fault  in  the  least.  No  one  but  a 
conceited  ass  would  ever  have  thought  you  cared  a  pin 
about  him.  I  always  knew  I  wasn't  half  good  enough 
for  you.  You  mustn't  make  yourself  unhappy,  dear ;  I 
can't  bear  to  see  you  cry.  Come,  wipe  your  eyes,  and 
tell  me  who  the  happy  man  is." 

Thus  adjured,  Cecily  raised  her  head  a  little,  and 
murmured  in  dolorous  tones : 

"Mr.  Dormer." 

"Dormer!"  exclaimed  Jasper  in  surprise,  and 
stopped  himself  just  in  time  from  saying,  "  That  prig." 
He  had  a  slight  acquaintance  with  Miles,  and  won- 
dered what  on  earth  Cecily  could  see  to  love  in  such  a 
solemn,  middle-aged  young  man.  As  he  pondered  over 
this  question  he  remembered  that  Dormer  must  be 
making  a  very  good  income,  and  the  idea  occurred  to 
him  that  in  the  Tregarthens'  circumstances  that  fact 
might  have  something  to  do  with  Cecily's  acceptance  of 
so  unsuitable  a  lover.  Could  it  be  possible  that  she 
really  cared  a  little  for  him,  Jasper,  after  all,  and  that 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  95 

her  tears  were  caused  as  much  by  sorrow  for  her  own 
disappointment  as  for  his  ?  He  cursed  his  own  blind- 
ness in  not  having  discovered  his  feelings  before.  If 
only  he  had  told  her  that  he  loved  her  before  he  left 
England.  Now,  he  supposed  that  it  was  too  late. 

"Are  you — do  you  care  for  him?"  he  asked  doubt- 
fully. 

As  Cecily  nodded  in  reply,  a  big  tear  splashed  down 
upon  the  table,  a  tear  that  almost  confirmed  Jasper  in 
his  suspicions. 

"  Poor  little  girl,"  he  said  involuntarily.  "  Are  you 
going  to  be  married  soon  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no,"  answered  Cecily  quickly.  "  It  is  to  be  a 
very  long  engagement." 

Jasper  brightened  up  a  little.  Anything  might 
happen  in  the  course  of  a  long  engagement. 

"  Then  you  will  be  able  to  go  on  with  your  sittings  ?  " 
he  said  more  cheerfully. 

"  No,  I  shall  not  have  time,"  she  replied.  "  And 
Mr.  Dormer  does  not  like  my  going  out  alone.  I  am 
very  sorry  to  have  to  give  up  my  visits,  but  I  think 
it  will  be  better  that  I  should  not  come  here 
again  for  the  present.  Dulcie  will  understand  why  I 
stay  away." 

"  She   is  afraid  of   herself,"   thought  Jasper  with 

7 


96  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

melancholy  satisfaction ;  "  she  cannot  trust  herself  to 
see  much  of  me.  Why — why  didn't  I  speak  when  she 
was  still  free  ?  " 

"  Will  you  tell  Dulcie  my  news?"  went  on  Cecily, 
"  and  say  good-bye  to  her  for  me.  I  am  sorry  she  was 
not  well  enough  to  see  me  to-day.  I  ought  to  go  home 
now.  I  hope  you  won't  think  anything  more  about 
me ;  I  am  not  worth  it." 

"  I  shall  always  think  about  you,"  he  said  ;  "  but  as 
long  as  I  can  think  that  you  are  happy,  that  must  be 
enough  for  me.  If  anything  should  ever  occur  to  make 
you  unhappy,  if  you  should  ever  want  the  advice  or 
help  of  a  friend,  promise  that  you  will  come  to  me.  I 
shall  always  be  ready  and  willing  to  do  you  service." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Miles  came  to  take  his  fiancee  out  to  lunch- 
eon next  day  he  found  her  in  an  unusually  quiet,  almost 
depressed  state  of  mind. 

"  Is  anything  wrong,  my  darling?"  he  asked  as  they 
walked  towards  Westbourne  Terrace,  where  Mrs.  Biug- 
ley's  house  was  situated.  "  You  seem  rather  out  of 
spirits." 

"No,  nothing  is  exactly  wrong,"  answered  Cecily. 
"  Only  I  have  been  wishing  that  I  were  more  worthy  of 
you.  You  don't  know  how  wicked  I  arn." 

"  I  think  I  can  guess,"  he  said,  laughing.  "  You 
have  been  late  for  breakfast  sometimes,  and  you  have 
often  thought  about  your  new  hat  in  church  when  you 
ought  to  have  been  listening  to  the  sermon.  Perhaps 
you  may  even  have  out-run  your  dress  allowance  when 
the  shops  have  been  particularly  tempting.  No  doubt, 
those  peccadilloes  seemed  like  crimes  to  your  tender 

97 


98  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

little  conscience,  but  I  am  ready  to  give  you  absolution 
for  them  all." 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Cecily  with  a  faint  sigh.  The 
impulse  to  confession  had  passed.  She  felt  it  to  be  im- 
possible to  enlighten  Miles  on  the  subject  of  her  past 
misdeeds  when  she  saw  how  far  he  was  from  suspecting 
the  truth. 

On  their  arrival  at  the  house  in  Westbourne  Terrace 
they  were  ushered,  rather  to  Cecily's  surprise,  into  a 
drawing-room  which  had  obviously  been  neither  swept 
nor  dusted  that  morning.  A  newly-lighted  fire  was 
struggling  for  existence  in  the  unpolished  grate,  and 
the  air  of  the  whole  house  seemed  to  be  impregnated 
with  the  smell  of  boiled  mutton.  A  heavy  clumping 
overhead  announced  that  the  hostess  was  hastily  attir- 
ing herself  to  receive  her  visitors,  and  at  the  end  of  ten 
minutes  she  made  her  appearance.  Cecily  was  con- 
scious of  a  little  shock  of  disappointment  as  she  found 
herself  welcomed  by  a  stout,  florid,  black -haired  lady, 
dressed  in  a  combination  of  fawn-colour  and  magenta. 
Mrs.  Bingley  had  been  considered  a  fine  woman  when 
she  married,  and  she  was  a  well-preserved  woman  still, 
her  tight  smooth  skin  being  unmarked  save  by  a  few 
lines  of  worry  about  the  opaque  dark  eyes  and  the  thin- 
lipped  mouth.  Her  face  belonged  to  the  type  which  has 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  99 

been  described  as  presenting  a  portrait  rather  than  a 
record,  and  in  her  case  the  portrait  was  neither  an  inter- 
esting nor  attractive  one. 

"  You  find  me  in  rather  a  muddle,"  she  exclaimed 
breathlessly.  "  But  the  fact  is,  I  have  had  to  dismiss 
my  cook  at  a  moment's  notice,  and  the  housemaid  has 
given  me  warning  in  consequence — servants  always 
hang  together,  you  know — so  I  have  had  to  get  in  a 
charwoman,  who  doesn't  know  my  ways." 

Cecily  and  Miles  hastened  to  assure  her  that  they 
quite  understood,  expressed  their  regrets  for  having  in- 
advertently come  at  such  an  awkward  time,  and  listened 
respectfully  to  Mrs.  Bingley's  recital  of  her  late  cook's 
misdeeds,  and  of  her  own  astuteness  in  discovering 
them.  Cecily's  attention  wandered  from  time  to  time, 
but  she  gathered  that  the  trouble  had  something  to  do 
with  dripping,  and  culminated  in  the  disappearance  of 
a  pound  and  a  half  of  the  best  beef-steak,  which  treas- 
ure had  been  unearthed  by  its  rightful  owner  under  a 
pile  of  dish-cloths  in  the  left-hand  drawer  of  the  kitch- 
en dresser.  Every  now  and  then  Miles,  who  seemed  to 
be  listening  with  the  most  conscientious  attention  to 
the  unfolding  of  the  tale,  glanced  at  Cecily  with  an  ex- 
pression that  seemed  to  say,  "  You  see  I  was  right  when 
I  told  you  that  she  was  a  domestic  genius." 


100  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

Lunch  was  announced  at  last,  and  in  the  dining- 
room  Cecily  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Bingley,  a  little  man 
with  a  conical-shaped  head,  short-sighted  eyes,  and  a 
sandy  beard.  Two  small  Miss  Biugleys  also  made  their 
appearance  in  the  charge  of  a  cowed-looking  governess. 
Cecily  did  not  find  her  host  very  interesting,  socially 
speaking,  but  her  respect  for  him  increased  when  she 
noticed  the  pleasant  civility  of  his  manner  to  the  plain 
little  governess,  and  her  heart  warmed  towards  him 
when  she  discovered  that  during  the  long  pause  be- 
tween the  disappearance  of  the  meat  and  the  arrival  of 
the  pudding,  he  was  holding  his  little  daughter's  hand 
under  the  table.  She  made  up  her  mind  that  he  was 
one  of  those  men  in  whom  the  paternal  instinct  is  more 
highly  developed  than  the  conjugal,  and  as  she  observed 
the  manner  in  which  he  looked  at  and  addressed  his 
Maria,  it  struck  her  that  he  regarded  a  wife  as  a  dis- 
agreeable but  necessary  ingredient  in  the  making  of  a 
home  and  the  founding  of  a  family. 

Mrs.  Bingley's  contributions  towards  the  conversa- 
tion were  chiefly  composed  of  further  reminiscences  on 
the  subject  of  the  departed  cook.  A  minute  account 
of  an  altercation  between  that  domestic  and  herself  on 
the  question  of  whose  duty  it  was  to  "  do  the  front 
hall "  occupied  the  greater  part  of  the  luncheon-hour, 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

and  was  only  cut  short  on  the  return  of  the  ladies  to 
the  drawing-room  by  the  arrival  of  the  two  nursery 
children,  who  claimed  the  visitor's  whole  attention. 
Cecily  was  not  particularly  struck  by  the  manners  or 
appearance  of  her  prospective  nephew  and  niece.  The 
five-year-old  girl  was  so  shy  that  she  could  not  be  per- 
suaded to  leave  the  shelter  of  her  mother's  skirts,  but 
the  boy,  who  was  a  couple  of  years  older,  was  propor- 
tionately bold  and  forward. 

"  You're  our  new  aunt,  ain't  you  ? "  he  said,  ad- 
vancing upon  Cecily  with  the  air  of  a  young  bandit. 
"  What  presents  have  you  brought  us  ?  " 

Bather  taken  aback  at  this  unexpected  demand, 
Cecily  explained  that  she  was  not  yet  his  aunt,  but 
that  she  would  bring  him  a  present  next  time  she 
came,  and  inquired  what  he  would  like. 

"  I  want  a  rocking-horse  with  harness  that  takes 
off,  and  a  mail-cart  to  hold  four,"  replied  the  young 
man  without  an  instant's  hesitation. 

"  There,  that  will  do,  Harold,"  put  in  his  mother, 
glancing  at  Cecily  as  though  to  challenge  her  admira- 
tion for  such  a  prodigy.  "  You  know  that  I  have 
told  you  it  is  naughty  to  tease  people  for  things.  Go 
and  play  with  your  bricks.  He  has  such  a  spirit,"  she 
added,  turning  to  her  visitor.  "  He  is  getting  quite 


102  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

beyond  nurse,  and  even  I  find  him  a  handful  when  he 
is  in  one  of  his  rampageous  moods." 

It  appeared  that  Harold  was  in  a  rampageous  mood 
that  afternoon,  for  while  his  mother  was  entertaining 
her  guests  with  a  circumstantial  account  of  the  sayings 
and  doings  of  the  five  children,  their  remarkable 
health  and  cleverness,  and  her  own  methods  of  nursery 
management,  he  amused  himself  by  building  a  tall 
tower  with  his  bricks,  and  then  knocking  the  erection 
down  with  a  deafening  clatter. 

"  Not  so  much  noise,  darling,"  protested  his  mother 
at  length.  "  The  lady  will  think  you  quite  a  little 
bear." 

"  When  is  the  lady  going  away  ? "  asked  Harold, 
scowling  at  Cecily. 

"  You  mustn't  ask  rude  questions,"  replied  his  fond 
parent.  "  Now  play  quietly,  or  I  shall  have  to  send 
you  to  nurse." 

A  few  moments  of  peace  and  quiet  were  succeeded 
by  a  crash  that  made  Cecily  nearly  jump  out  of  her 
chair. 

"  Now,  Harold,  what  did  I  say  ? "  demanded  his 
mother.  "  Go  to  nurse  at  once." 

"  Don't  want  to,"  whined  Harold. 

"  You  are  a  very  naughty  boy  not   to   do   what 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  103 

mother  says.     Now  go  when  I  tell  you.     Do  you  hear 
me?" 

But  apparently  Harold  was  deaf,  for  he  refused  to 
budge. 

"  Well,  will  you  go  if  I  give  you  a  chocolate  ? " 
asked  Mrs.  Bingley,  suddenly  changing  her  tactics. 

The  boy  considered  a  moment.  "  I'll  go  if  you'll 
give  me  two  large  ones,"  was  his  ultimatum. 

"  Oh,  anything  to  get  rid  of  you,"  said  his  mother 
fretfully.  "  But  I  know  you  will  be  bilious  to-mor- 
row." 

The  chocolates  were  produced,  and  the  rebel  de- 
parted. 

"  It's  no  easy  matter  to  manage  a  boy  like  that," 
remarked  Maria.  "  It  requires  so  much  tact  and 
firmness." 

The  weary  visit  came  to  an  end  at  last,  and  Cecily 
took  leave  of  her  hostess  with  a  joyful  heart. 

"  I  daresay  you  got  a  lot  of  useful  hints  from 
Maria,"  observed  Miles  cheerfully,  as  they  walked 
away. 

He  looked  so  convinced  of  the  success  of  the  visit 
that  Cecily  had  not  the  heart  to  tell  him  of  her 
doubts  of  Mrs.  Bingley's  housewifely  and  maternal 
virtues. 


104  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  She  certainly  told  me  a  good  deal,"  she  returned 
evasively.  "  She  seems  to  be  much  interested  in  do- 
mestic affairs." 

When  the  couple  reached  the  Mansions  they  found 
the  flat  deserted.  Madge  had  not  been  engaged  twice 
herself  without  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  needs  of 
a  pair  of  lovers. 

"  Now  we  can  enjoy  ourselves,"  said  Miles,  sitting 
down  and  drawing  Cecily  on  to  his  knee.  "  Do  you 
know,  darling,  I  have  been  thinking  things  over,  and  I 
have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  I  cannot  go  on 
much  longer  in  this  vague  indefinite  way.  I  don't 
want  to  hurry  you,  but  I  should  like  you  to  fix, 
at  any  rate,  an  approximate  date  for  our  marriage. 
At  present  I  feel  so  unsettled  and  uncertain  about 
everything.  I  am  afraid  of  waking  up  some 
morning  and  finding  that  all  my  happiness  was  a 
dream." 

"  You  would  be  more  likely  to  wake  to  that  dis- 
covery if  we  were  married,"  replied  Cecily.  "  At  least 
if  one  may  judge  from  the  experiences  of  one's  friends. 
Think  of  Rosamund  Marchmont,  whose  husband  you 
said  yourself  was  a  blackguard,  and  think  of  all  the 
prosy  married  couples  you  know,  of  whom  the  best 
that  can  be  said  is  that  they  tolerate  each  other. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  105 

They  are  none  of  them  happy  like  us ;  they  none  of 
them  love  as  we  do." 

"  You  foolish  child,"  he  said,  pulling  one  of  the 
little  curls  that  broke  loose  upon  the  nape  of  her  neck. 
"  Our  case  would  be  quite  different  from  any  of  theirs. 
I  should  not  turn  out  a  blackguard,  and  no  life  could 
be  prosy  in  which  you  had  a  part.  It  is  not  like  you 
to  be  self-willed  and  unreasonable,  dearest.  Come,  be 
good,  and  say  that  the  wedding  shall  be  this  day 
month." 

"  No,  no,"  she  cried,  with  a  shudder,  "  I  couldn't — I 
really  couldn't." 

"  I  don't  understand  you,"  he  said,  beginning  to 
feel  both  hurt  and  angry.  "  There  must  be  something 
behind  all  this.  If  you  love  me  as  well  as  you  profess 
to  do,  you  must  have  some  reason  for  wishing  to  defer 
our  marriage,  which  you  have  not  told  me.  Please  let 
me  hear  it  now." 

"  I  don't  like  to  tell  you,"  murmured  Cecily,  letting 
her  head  drop  on  his  shoulder. 

"  But  you  must ;  don't  be  afraid,  sweet  one.  I  like 
to  know  everything  that  is  passing  in  your  little  mind." 

"  Well  then,"  she  said,  with  the  sudden  frankness 
of  desperation.  "  I  daresay  you  will  think  me  horrid, 
but  if  you  must  know,  it  is  because  I  don't  want  to 


106  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

die  just  wheii  I  am  so  happy,  and  I  am  dreadfully 
afraid  of  suffering." 

"  Die  !  Suffering  !  What  are  you  talking  about  ?  " 
exclaimed  Miles,  beginning  to  fear  that  his  fiancee  had 
taken  leave  of  her  wits. 

"  Oh,  can't  you  understand  !  Do  men  never  realise 
how  much  more  serious  a  matter  marriage  is  for  girls 
than  for  them  ?  Does  it  never  occur  to  them  that 
when  a  woman  marries  she  risks  her  life,  and  accepts 
the  practical  certainty  of  having  to  undergo  the  most 
terrible  of  all  suffering  ?  You  pretend  to  love  me, 
and  yet  you  are  anxious  to  expose  me  to  all  that." 

"  Oh,"  said  Miles,  drawing  a  long  breath,  as  the 
look  of  mystification  and  alarm  died  away  from  his 
face.  "  I  never  knew  that  girls  thought  about  such 
things.  It  is  the  decree  of  Nature  you  know,  dear, 
that  women  should  bear  children.  We  cannot  alter 
Nature's  laws." 

"  No,  but  if  Nature  chooses  to  punish  us  so  cruelly 
for  carrying  on  the  race,  she  cannot  be  surprised  if  we 
shrink  from  marriage." 

Miles  looked  puzzled.  He  had  been  accustomed  to 
talk  about  the  blessed  privileges  of  maternity  with  the 
comfortable  fluency  of  one  who  knows  that  he  will 
never  be  called  upon  to  share  those  privileges  and  their 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  107 

attendant  pains,  while  he  had  always  fancied  that  every 
woman  worthy  of  the  name  wished  for  children,  just  as 
ever  girl-child  craved  for  dolls.  It  struck  him  with  a 
sense  of  surprise  and  injury  that  his  feminine  ideal 
would  never  have  talked  as  Cecily  had  just  done. 
Still,  his  real  sweetheart  was  so  much  more  charming  in 
every  other  way  than  his  ideal  that  he  could  not  bring 
himself  to  be  angry  with  her. 

"  When  a  woman  cares  very  much  for  a  man,"  he 
said  gently,  "  she  generally  thinks  that  his  love  and 
the  prospective  love  of  her  children  more  than  coun- 
terbalance all  the  danger  and  suffering." 

"  But  men  very  often  take  a  dislike  to  their  wives 
when  they  see  them  looking  ugly  and  repulsive,"  put 
in  Cecily.  "  And  the  children  turn  out  badly,  or  die 
just  as  their  mothers  have  begun  to  look  upon  them  as 
the  only  comfort  they  have  left." 

"  That  is  taking  a  morbid  view  of  the  matter.  You 
surely  cannot  think  that  I  should  ever  love  you  the 
less  because  you  were  the  mother  of  my  children ;  and 
as  for  disappointment  and  death,  we  cannot  guard 
against  them  whatever  lot  we  may  choose.  And  I 
firmly  believe  that  the  family  life  is  the  best  that  the 
world  has  to  offer  both  to  men  and  women,  in  spite  of 
the  occasional  suffering  and  anxiety  that  it  may  entail." 


108  A   STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

Cecily  made  no  reply,  but  Miles  knew  by  the 
movement  of  her  shoulders  that  she  was  crying.  He 
sat  in  silence  for  a  moment,  wondering  how  he  was  to 
reconcile  his  sweetheart  to  the  "  august  martyrdom  of 
maternity."  Reasoning  seemed  to  have  no  effect ; 
therefore  he  decided  to  try  another  method. 

"  Dearest  love,"  he  murmured,  clasping  her  more 
closely  in  his  arms,  "you  don't  know  how  happy  it 
would  make  me  if  I  felt  that  we  were  together,  never 
to  be  parted  again.  I  am  so  much  older  than  you, 
and  I  have  led  such  a  lonely  life  all  these  years.  I 
am  longing  for  my  home  and  my  wife,  and  you — ah, 
Cecily — how  can  you  have  the  heart  to  send  me  back 
to  those  empty  rooms  alone  ?  " 


CHAPTER  X. 

Two  months  later  the  lovers  were  married.  Cir- 
cumstances had  combined  to  further  Miles's  wishes, 
and  to  overrule  Cecily's  objection  to  an  early  mar- 
riage. In  the  first  place,  Madge,  unable  to  endure  the 
sight  of  a  love-drama  in  which  she  did  not  play  the 
principal  part,  and  thoroughly  weary  of  her  daily  per- 
formance on  the  typewriter,  suddenly  decided  to  accept 
the  fourth  proposal  of  a  three  times  rejected  but  not 
disheartened  major.  This  faithful  swain  was  approach- 
ing middle-age  and  unromantic  in  appearance,  but  he 
was  good-tempered,  his  income  was  handsome,  and  he 
hinted  at  further  expectations.  Altogether,  Madge 
thought  that  Fergus  would  be  kind,  and  that  she 
would  be  comfortable,  a  sufficient  basis  in  her  opinion 
for  matrimonial  happiness.  The  major's  regiment  was 
going  out  to  India  in  the  autumn,  and  as  he  had 
influential  friends  among  tea  and  coffee  planters,  he 
good-naturedly  suggested  that  Peter  should  accompany 

109 


HO  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

himself  and  Madge,  and  look  in  the  East  for  that 
berth  which  had  eluded  all  search  in  the  West. 

The  home  being  thus  prospectively  broken  up,  Kate 
decided  to  take  bachelor  lodgings  somewhere  between 
the  British  Museum  and  Fleet  Street,  a  region  which, 
in  her  eyes,  constituted  the  centre  of  the  universe,  and 
Cecily  saw  no  course  open  to  her  but  to  consent  to  en- 
ter the  perilous  yet  prosaic  state  of  matrimony  on  the 
same  day  as  her  sister.  Accordingly  the  double  wed- 
ding took  place  in  July,  and  immediately  afterwards  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Dormer  left  England  for  the  Continent. 

For  three  long  delightful  months,  the  pair  wandered 
together  through  foreign  lands,  going  whither  they 
would,  staying  where  they  pleased,  free  from  the  jars 
and  rubs  of  every  day  existence,  alone  with  their  love, 
undisturbed  in  their  happiness.  There  was  scarcely  a 
day  or  an  hour  in  which  Miles  did  not  discover  some 
new  and  delightful  trait  in  his  wife's  mind  or  disposi- 
tion. He  had  known  that  her  temper  was  sweet,  and 
that  she  was  naturally  unselfish  and  pliable,  but  he 
soon  perceived  that  her  character  was  neither  weak 
nor  colourless.  She  had  her  own  likes,  ideas,  and  opin- 
ions, but  she  yielded  to  his  wishes  because  she  loved 
him,  and  deferred  to  his  opinions  because  she  believed 
in  him. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

The  discovery  of  her  bright  intelligence  and  curi- 
ously receptive  mind  was  a  continual  source  of  astonish- 
ment to  him.  He  had  neither  expected  nor  desired 
to  find  a  mental  companion  in  his  wife,  for  a  clever 
woman  was  his  bugbear,  but  he  could  not  deny  that  life 
was  infinitely  pleasanter  and  more  amusing  when  it 
was  shared  with  a  lively  quick-witted  girl  who,  thanks 
to  her  feminine  adaptiveness  and  powers  of  intuition, 
picked  up  ideas  and  assimilated  information  with  an 
ease  that  seemed  to  him  almost  uncanny.  It  was  true 
that  such  knowledge  as  she  did  possess  was  superficial, 
and  that,  thanks  to  a  thoroughly  defective  education, 
her  ignorance  on  many  subjects  was  positively  abysmal, 
but  she  showed  an  extraordinary  faculty  for  making  the 
most  of  her  newly-gained  ideas,  and  turning  them  to 
the  very  best  account.  After  a  couple  of  months  in 
Italy  her  appreciation  of  the  methods  and  character- 
istics of  the  old  masters  bade  fair  to  eclipse  his  own 
carefully-acquired  artistic  knowledge,  while  with  a  few 
idioms,  a  little  patois,  and  a  great  deal  of  gesticulation 
she  could  always  make  herself  understood  by  the  na- 
tives before  he  had  framed  his  first  sentence  of  classical 
Italian.  All  this  was  quite  wrong  from  the  feminine 
ideal  point  of  view,  yet  he  was  compelled  to  admit  that 

he  had  never  enjoyed  himself  so  much  in  his  life. 
8 


112  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

It  promised  well  for  the  continuation  of  his  happi- 
ness that  Cecily  showed  none  of  the  young  wife's  jeal- 
ousy of  her  husband's  work.  On  the  contrary,  she  was 
even  more  anxious  than  himself  that  he  should  win  a 
greater  rneed  of  fame  in  the  future,  and  infinitely 
prouder  of  what  he  had  accomplished  in  the  past. 
Whenever  they  stayed  more  than  a  day  or  two  in  one 
place,  she  unpacked  his  writing  materials,  and  insisted 
upon  his  sitting  down  to  a  good  morning's  work.  And 
Miles,  who  had  been  a  writer  and  nothing  but  a  writer 
long  enough  to  have  acquired  a  touch  of  the  "  ink-crav- 
ing," needed  but  little  persuasion.  It  quickly  became 
clear  to  him  that  he  was  working  better  during  those 
holiday  weeks  than  he  had  done  at  any  period  in  his 
previous  career.  His  was  the  mastery  of  word  and 
phrase,  the  gift  of  imagination,  the  power  of  selection, 
the  knowledge  of  men,  and  now  to  these  good  things 
were  added  the  tenderness,  the  sympathy,  and  the  in- 
sight into  feminine  nature  that  can  only  be  learnt  in 
the  school  of  love.  One  unlooked-for  difficulty,  how- 
ever, he  found  to  be  inseparable  from  his  project  of 
sketching  his  new  heroine  from  his  wife  instead  of  from 
an  ideal  of  his  own  conception. 

"  Do  you  know  you  are  giving  me  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  ? "  he  said  to  Cecily  one  day,  at  the  close  of  a 


A  STUDY  IX  PREJUDICES.  H3 

morning's  work.  "  You  have  compelled  me  to  change 
nearly  the  whole  plot  of  my  book.  According  to  my 
original  plan  the  heroine  had  to  undergo  many  trials 
and  much  tribulation,  and  the  story  ended  badly.  But 
now  I  can't  bring  myself  to  make  her  very  miserable 
because  she  looks  at  me  so  reproachfully  with  your  eyes. 
I  have  had  to  lighten  her  troubles,  and  even  allow  her 
to  live  happily  ever  after.  But  that  involves  the 
rewriting  of  all  that  I  had  done  before  I  knew 
you." 

"  Oh,  what  a  pity ! "  said  Cecily  regretfully.  "  I 
give  you  free  leave  to  treat  me  as  badly  as  you  like  in 
fiction.  You  may  throw  me  off  horses,  upset  me  out  of 
boats,  and  even  put  a  rope  round  my  neck  and  sell  me 
at  Smithfield,  as  long  as  you  are  always  nice  to  me  in 
real  life." 

Only  one  slight  passing  cloud  marred  the  perfect 
serenity  of  the  long  honeymoon.  It  was  the  third 
Sunday  after  their  marriage,  and  the  couple  were  at 
Florence.  As  they  sat  at  breakfast  Miles  suddenly 
asked : 

"Wouldn't  you  like  to  go  to  church  this  morn- 
ing, Cecily?  You  haven't  been  since  we  left  Eng- 
land, and  I  believe  there  is  a  fairly  good  service 
here." 


114  A  STUDY   IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  If  you  wish  to  go,  Miles,  I  should  like  to  go  with 
you.  I  didn't  know  you  ever  went  to  church." 

"  No,  I  don't.     But  I  thought  you  did." 

"  Yes,  we  always  went  as  long  as  we  lived  at  Chat- 
ham, and  when  we  came  to  London  we  began  by  going 
to  a  different  church  every  Sunday,  and  we  heard  some- 
thing different  at  each.  One  clergyman  told  us  that 
all  men  except  a  select  few  would  go  to  hell,  and 
another  that  there  was  no  such  place.  A  third  said 
that  it  was  wicked  not  to  pray  for  rain,  and  a  fourth 
that  we  ought  only  to  pray  for  spiritual  blessings. 
Some  told  us  that  everything  that  happened  had  been 
predestined  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and 
others  that  every  man  could  make  his  own  fate,  and 
was  the  master  of  his  circumstances.  Then  they  all 
interpreted  the  Bible  in  different  and  often  contradic- 
tory ways,  so  at  last  I  got  quite  confused  and  dis- 
heartened, and  I  gave  up  going  to  church  or  reading 
the  Bible.  But  now  if  you  will  tell  me  what  you 
believe,  I  will  believe  it  too.  Your  faith  shall  be  my 
faith,  and  your  God  my  God." 

"  That  is  impossible,"  he  said.  "  A  man  hammers 
out  his  faith,  such  as  it  is,  by  means  of  long  years  of 
thought  and  reading.  A  woman  cannot  do  that,  and 
therefore  she  must  believe  what  she  is  told.  In  any 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  H5 

case  the  faith  of  a  thinking  man  would  not  be  definite 
enough  for  her.  She  requires  dogmas,  symbols,  and 
ceremonies." 

Cecily  looked  sad. 

"I  am  sorry  that  we  must  be  separated  in  our 
religion,"  she  said  mournfully.  "  Do  you  think  there 
will  be  a  little  heaven  for  women,  and  a  big  one  for 
men?" 

"  I  can't  say,"  replied  Miles.  "  But  there  is  another 
reason  for  feminine  orthodoxy.  A  woman  must  take 
her  children  to  church,  teach  them  the  catechism,  and 
tell  them  about  little  Samuel  and  David  and  Bathsheba. 
An  agnostic  child  would  be  a  monster,  worse  than  an 
agnostic  woman.  So  when  we  settle  down  at  home, 
Cecily,  I  will  take  a  sitting  for  you  at  the  nearest 
church,  and  you  had  better  believe  what  the  clergyman 
tells  you.  If  you  never  go  anywhere  else  you  won't  hear 
him  contradicted." 

"  Won't  you  ever  go  with  me  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  now  and  then,"  he  answered  reluctantly, 
for  he  was  too  honest  not  to  shrink  from  appearing  to 
profess  a  religion  whose  dogmas  he  did  not  believe. 
"  At  any  rate  I  will  take  you  to  the  door,  and  come  and 
fetch  you  afterwards." 

"  Well,  I  will  go  to  church  every  Sunday  to  please 


116  A  STUDY   IN  PREJUDICES. 

you,"  said  Cecily.  "I  would  attend  meetings  of  the 
Salvation  Army  if  I  knew  you  wished  it." 

Unfortunately,  the  motto  of  Warren  Hastings' 
adoption,  "  This  too  will  pass,"  applies  to  honeymoons 
as  well  as  to  less  agreeable  periods  of  life,  and  by  the 
middle  of  October  the  Dormers  were  back  in  town. 
They  were  saved  the  trouble  of  house-hunting  and 
furnishing  by  the  opportunity  that  offered  itself  of 
taking  over  a  furnished  house  in  Camden  Gardens, 
which  belonged  to  an  artist  friend  of  Miles,  who  found 
himself  obliged  to  economise  on  the  Continent.  The 
house  was  comfortable,  the  furniture  was  in  good  taste, 
and  the  couple  were  not  sorry  to  settle  down  in  a  home 
of  their  own,  even  though  they  felt  some  regrets  that 
they  could  no  longer  be  sufficient  unto  themselves,  but 
must,  in  a  measure  at  least,  come  back  to  the  world, 
submit  to  visit  and  be  visited,  and  recognise  the  claims 
of  friends,  relations,  and  society  in  general. 

Cecily  was  brought  down  to  earth  somewhat  roughly 
in  the  course  of  an  early  visit  from  her  sister-in-law, 
Mrs.  Bingley.  That  lady,  who  had  been  in  the  country 
when  the  Dormers  first  returned  to  town,  made  her  ap- 
pearance at  eleven  o'clock  one  morning,  when  they  had 
been  settled  about  a  fortnight  in  their  new  home.  She 
was  accompanied  by  a  small  child,  who  had  to  be 


A  STUDY   IN   PREJUDICES. 

refreshed  with  cake  and  provided  with  a  picture-book 
before  her  elders  could  indulge  in  any  conversation. 
As  soon,  however,  as  Miss  Tottie  was  happily  engaged 
in  crumbling  cake  over  a  valuable  illustrated  book, 
Mrs.  Bingley  opened  fire  with  the  inquiry  : 

"  Well,  and  how  are  you  getting  on  with  your 
housekeeping?  I  daresay  you  still  feel  quite  at 
sea." 

"No,  I  find  it  easier  than  I  expected,"  answered 
Cecily,  inwardly  wondering  at  the  fascination  which  the 
more  sordid  details  of  life  possess  for  a  certain  order  of 
mind.  "  The  cook  seems  a  good  manager,  and  with  her 
help  I  have  got  on  very  well  so  far." 

"  Ah,  I  shouldn't  put  too  much  faith  in  the  help 
of  cooks,"  observed  Mrs.  Bingley  with  a  grim  smile. 
"  Does  your  husband  give  you  an  allowance  for  the 
housekeeping  ?  " 

"No,  we  pay  all  our  bills  weekly,  and  Miles  and 
I  go  through  the  books  on  Monday  mornings.  Of 
course  I  could  do  it  alone,  but  we  like  doing  things 
together." 

"  H'm,"  said  Maria,  "  I  don't  hold  with  paying 
bills  weekly.  The  tradespeople  are  much  more  civil 
and  supply  you  with  better  goods  if  you  keep  a  run- 
ning account.  And  I  should  certainly  advise  you  to 


118  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

have  an  allowance  for  housekeeping.  Then  you  can 
pinch  a  bit  when  you  and  your  husband  are  alone,  and 
make  more  of  a  dash  when  you  have  company.  A  man 
is  none  the  better  for  living  well  every  day ;  he  only 
gets  bilious." 

"  Pinch  Miles ! "  cried  Cecily,  in  horror-stricken 
tones.  "  Why,  I  would  rather  never  ask  a  guest  to  the 
house  from  one  year's  end  to  another  than  entertain  at 
the  cost  of  his  discomfort." 

"  Ah,  you're  young,"  said  Mrs.  Bingley  indulgently. 
"  You  will  soon  grow  out  of  those  ideas.  By  the  way, 
my  dear,  I  think  you  make  a  mistake  in  having  such  a 
good-looking  parlour-maid.  It's  never  safe  where 
there's  a  man  in  the  house." 

"  But  we  don't  keep  a  man,"  answered  Cecily  inno- 
cently. 

"  But  I  suppose  you  call  your  husband  a  man." 

"  Miles ! "  exclaimed  the  young  wife  with  an 
indignant  flush.  "  Do  you  mean  to  suggest  that 
there  would  be  any  danger  to  Miles  from  a  good-look- 
ing parlour-maid  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  don't  wish  to  offend  you,  my  dear ;  but 
you  must  remember  that  all  men  are  weak,  and  easily 
led  astray  by  a  pretty  face.  It  is  a  wife's  first  duty 
to  put  temptation  out  of  her  husband's  way.  Now, 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  H9 

dees  Miles  belong  to  the  same  clubs  as  he  did  before 
he  married  ?  " 

"  I  suppose  so." 

"  Not  the  Barbarian  ?  " 

"Certainly;  why  not?" 

"  Ah,  you  ought  to  make  him  give  up  that  at  once. 
My  husband  belonged  to  four  clubs  when  he  married 
me,  and  now  he  has  given  them  all  up  except  the 
Academy,  and  he  does  not  go  there  often.  He  is 
much  better,  as  I  tell  him,  at  home  with  me  and  the 
children.  When  a  lot  of  men  get  together  they  talk 
nothing  but  wickedness,  and  encourage  each  other  in 
vice.  If  you'll  take  my  advice  you  won't  allow  your 
husband  to  see  too  much  of  his  bachelor  friends ;  they 
only  lead  a  married  man  into  mischief,  and  make  him 
discontented  with  domestic  life." 

"  I  should  never  dream  of  interfering  with  Miles's 
friends,"  answered  Cecily  haughtily.  "  And  if  he  ever 
tires  of  his  home  and  me  I  shall  not  raise  a  finger  to 
prevent  him  from  seeking  amusement  elsewhere.  I 
would  never  condescend  to  keep  my  husband  with  me 
against  his  will." 

"  What  nonsense,"  said  her  sister-in-law  with  a  fat 
laugh.  "  Do  you  really  fancy  that  your  husband  will 
always  be  your  lover?  Well,  well,  I  suppose  most 


120  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

young  wives  have  their  little  illusions,  but  they  soon 
wear  off." 

When  Mrs.  Bingley  and  her  sticky-fingered  child 
had  taken  their  departure,  Cecily  sat  still  for  a  moment 
clenching  her  hands  and  repeating  to  herself : 

"She  is  Miles's  half-sister!  She  is  Miles's  half- 
sister  ! " 

If  it  had  not  been  for  that  relationship  she  thought 
that  she  must  have  ordered  the  dangerously  good- 
looking  Jane  never  to  admit  Mrs.  Bingley  again. 
When  she  had  recovered  her  composure  somewhat,  she 
went  into  the  study  where  her  husband  was  at  work, 
and  stood  silently  behind  the  chair,  with  her  chin 
resting  on  the  top  of  his  head.  Miles,  who  was 
becoming  accustomed  to  such  little  attentions,  and 
who  looked  upon  them  as  no  interruption  to  his  work, 
went  on  with  his  writing  until  he  came  to  the  end  of 
a  paragraph.  Then  he  laid  down  his  pen,  and  stole  his 
arm  round  his  wife. 

" Do  you  want  anything,  dear?"  he  asked. 

"Nothing  particular,"  answered  Cecily,  her  late 
sufferings  making  themselves  apparent  in  her 
tones. 

"What  a  mournful  little  voice,"  exclaimed  Miles. 
"  Come  in  front,  and  let  me  look  at  you.  Why,  you 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICE&  121 

are  quite  pale,  darling,  and  there  are  tears  in  your  eyes. 
What  can  be  the  matter  ?  " 

"  I  only  wanted  to  ask  you  something,"  returned  his 
wife,  swallowing  a  sob.  "  Miles,  do  you  think  you 
belong  to  enough  clubs  ?  " 

"Why,  yes,  I  belong  to  three.  I  had  thought 
of  giving  up  the  Barbarian ;  I  hardly  ever  go 
there." 

"  Oh,  don't  do  that,"  exclaimed  Cecily.  "  Or  if  you 
do,  couldn't  you  belong  to  another,  one  you  would  go 
tooftener?" 

"  You  seem  very  anxious  to  get  rid  of  me,"  he  said, 
a  little  inclined  to  feel  hurt.  "  Have  I  inflicted  too 
much  of  my  society  upon  you?" 

"No,  you  know  you  couldn't  do  that.  I  only 
wanted  you  to  feel  as  free  and  independent  as  you  did  be- 
fore you  married.  And  Miles,  haven't  you  any  bachelor 
friends  you  would  like  to  ask  to  dinner  ?  I  could  dine 
in  the  breakfast-room  if  you  would  rather  have  them 
alone." 

"  Thank  you,"  he  returned,  "  but  I  much  prefer 
your  company  at  dinner  to  that  of  any  bachelor  ac- 
quaintance. When  I  feel  a  craving  for  exclusively  mas- 
culine society  I  will  let  you  know." 

"  Yes,  be  sure  you  do,"  said  his  wife. 


122  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

There  was  silence  between  them  for  a  few  moments, 
which  Cecily  broke  with  the  inquiry  : 

" Miles,  do  you  ever  feel  bilious?" 

"  Certainly  not,"  replied  her  husband,  repudiating 
the  insulting  suggestion  with  excusable  warmth.  "  I 
never  felt  better  in  my  life.  Do  you  want  to  know  any- 
thing else?" 

"  No — yes.  Don't  you  think  Jane  a  very  pretty 
girl?" 

"  Jane  ! "  said  Miles  with  a  puzzled  look,  for  he  was 
not  yet  accustomed  to  the  apparent  irrelevance  of  the 
feminine  mind.  "  Oh,  you  mean  the  parlour-maid.  I 
haven't  observed  her  very  closely,  but  she  seems  a  nice, 
fresh-looking  girl." 

"  Oh,  but  she  is  really  quite  handsome.  She  has 
such  a  straight  nose,  and  such  long  eyelashes.  Do  look 
at  her  when  she  is  waiting  at  dinner  to-night." 

"  Certainly,  if  you  wish  it,"  he  answered,  absently. 
"  Now,  suppose  you  fetch  your  work,  and  come  and  sit 
by  me,  while  I  read  you  what  I  have  written  this  morn- 
ing. I  think  it  goes  rather  well." 


CHAPTER  XL 

IN  spite  of  the  annoyances  inflicted  by  the  Mrs. 
Bingleys  of  society,  and  the  inevitable  small  worries  of 
every-day  life,  Cecily  was  almost  as  completely  happy 
during  the  first  few  weeks  in  her  new  home  as  she  had 
been  upon  her  wedding  journey.  Perhaps  the  knowl- 
edge that  a  chance  revelation  of  some  of  the  follies  of 
her  past  might  lower  her  for  ever  in  her  husband's  eyes, 
might  even  destroy  his  love  for  her,  made  her  hug  her 
happiness  all  the  closer,  treasuring  it  as  we  seldom 
treasure  what  we  actually  have,  exulting  over  each  day 
and  hour  that  her  precious  possession  was  left  to  her. 

The  only  check  inflicted  upon  her  perfect  content- 
ment with  her  lot  was  in  connection  with  her  desire  to 
develop  her  artistic  talent,  and  turn  it  to  the  best 
account. 

"  Miles,"  she  said  one  morning,  when  the  furniture 
had  all  been  re-arranged,  and  the  wheels  of  the  house- 
keeping machinery  had  begun  to  run  smoothly,  "  would 

123 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

you  have  any  objection  to  my  attending  some  art- 
classes  ?  " 

"  Art-classes ! "  said  her  husband,  raising  his  eye- 
brows. "  What  on  earth  do  you  want  to  do  that  for  ?  " 

"  Because  I  should  like  some  more  lessons  in  design, 
and  later  on  I  want  to  learn  etching." 

"  But  what  for  ?  "  he  repeated. 

"  Why,  so  as  to  make  the  most  of  my  one  small 
talent.  Mr.  Fleming  always  said  that  with  more  teach- 
ing and  practice  I  ought  to  do  good  work  some  day." 

"  Work ! "  exclaimed  Miles,  his  face  clouding. 
"  You  don't  suppose  I  am  going  to  allow  my  wife  to 
work,  do  you  ?  I  can  make  money  enough  for  both  of 
us,  and  I  don't  ask  my  darling  to  do  anything  but  at- 
tend to  the  house-keeping,  and  enjoy  herself  in  her  own 
way." 

"  But  with  servants  like  ours  the  house-keeping 
doesn't  take  half  an  hour,"  pleaded  Cecily,  "  and  draw- 
ing is  the  occupation  I  enjoy  most  of  all,  only  I  don't 
care  about  doing  it  in  an  amateurish  way.  I  know 
there  is  no  actual  need  for  me  to  earn  money,  but  if 
one's  work  has  a  market  value,  that  is  at  least  a  proof 
that  it  is  worth  doing,  that  there  is  some  demand  for  it 
in  the  world." 

Miles  reflected  for  a   moment.     He   was   sincerely 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  125 

anxious  that  his  wife  should  have  everything  her  heart 
desired,  and  yet  he  had  a  horror  of  the  publicity  of 
professional  work  for  a  woman,  believing  it  to  be  un- 
sexing,  if  not  actually  demoralising.  After  a  moment's 
thought,  however,  his  face  cleared,  for  he  fancied  that 
he  had  hit  upon  a  solution  of  the  problem. 

"  Have  as  many  lessons  as  you  please,  dearest,"  he 
said.  "  Only  you  must  take  them  privately.  I  don't 
admire  the  type  of  woman  who  attends  public  classes. 
And  as  regards  work,  I  have  a  volume  of  short  stories 
coming  out  next  season,  and  I  propose  that  you  should 
illustrate  them  with  some  of  your  charming  designs. 
I  will  pay  you  with  a  brooch  or  a  bangle,  and  your 
name  need  not  appear,  so  that  you  will  be  saved  all 
unpleasant  publicity." 

"  Of  course  I  shall  be  delighted  to  illustrate  your 
stories,"  said  Cecily,  though  she  did  not  quite  see 
how  this  arrangement  met  the  question  of  market 
value.  "  And  I  want  no  payment  beyond  your  ap- 
proval." 

"  And  afterwards,"  went  on  Miles,  warming  with 
his  theme,  "  you  can  design  initial  letters  and  tail- 
pieces for  my  books,  and  perhaps  programmes  for  my 
plays.  Besides,  you  can  always  make  drawings  for 
presents  to  your  friends,  and  to  sell  at  bazaars." 


126  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  Yes,  so  I  can,"  she  returned,  trying  not  to  look 
disappointed,  for  it  was  hard  to  give  up  her  own  little 
private  ambition  altogether.  She  had  the  genuine 
creative  impulse  which  burns  in  the  soul  of  its  pos- 
sessor as  money  burns  in  the  pocket  of  a  spendthrift, 
and  her  whole  nature  craved  for  a  fuller,  freer  develop- 
ment. However,  she  quickly  forgot  her  disappoint- 
ment in  the  interest  of  planning  illustrations  for 
Miles's  stories, -which  of  course  demanded  her  best 
thought  and  most  finished  execution.  If  the  designs 
only  helped  the  book  to  sell,  and  quickened  the 
reader's  appreciation  of  its  contents,  it  would  matter 
little,  she  decided,  that  the  artist  remained  anony- 
mous. 

As  Miles  was  now  working  steadily  at  his  new  book, 
and  was  consequently  shut  up  in  his  study  during  a 
great  part  of  the  day,  Cecily  felt  the  necessity  of  find- 
ing congenial  occupation  for  her  leisure  hours.  She 
could  not  draw  all  day,  but  her  talent  found  an  out- 
let in  the  needle  as  well  as  the  pencil,  and  she  took  a 
keen  pleasure  in  knitting  silken  socks  in  elaborate 
patterns  for  her  husband's  wear,  and  in  embroidering 
his  handkerchiefs  with  the  most  ornamental  and  inex- 
tricable of  "M's"  and  "  D's."  Then  again,  she  de- 
cided to  begin  a  course  of  reading  calculated  to  im- 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  127 

prove  her  mind  and  render  her  a  more  satisfactory 
companion  for  an  intellectual  man.  Hitherto,  she  had 
read  little  but  novels,  poetry,  and  a  few  modern  biog- 
raphies, but  her  recent  travels  had  stimulated  her  in- 
telligence, and  imbued  her  with  a  desire  to  learn  some- 
thing more  of  the  world  in  which  she  found  herself, 
and  more  especially  of  the  record  of  her  own  kind. 

With  this  end  in  view,  she  made  a  raid  upon  her 
husband's  library,  and  carried  off  "  The  Descent  of 
Man,"  which  she  believed,  from  what  she  had  heard, 
would  be  a  good  book  to  begin  upon.  She  intended  to 
keep  the  plan  a  secret  from  her  husband,  in  the  hope 
of  surprising  him  some  day  with  the  result  of  her 
newly-acquired  knowledge.  She  had  read  little  more 
than  half  the  book,  however,  when  Miles,  coming  into 
the  drawing-room  unexpectedly  one  morning,  caught 
her  with  the  volume  in  her  hand. 

"  Why,  what  dingy-looking  tome  have  you  got 
there  ?  "  he  inquired.  "  I  believe  you  have  been  plun- 
dering my  book-shelves." 

"  Yes,  I  have,"  replied  Cecily,  with  conscious  pride. 
"  I  wanted  to  read  '  The  Descent  of  Man,'  so  I  stole 
it  one  day  when  you  were  out." 

"  What  can  have  put  the  '  Descent  of  Man '  into 

your    head?"     asked    Miles,    his    brow    contracting. 
9 


128  A   STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  You  have  your  subscription  at  Mudie's,  and  I  see 
you  have  got  Temple  Bar  and  Mrs.  Oliphant's  latest 
novel." 

"  Yes,  but  one  gets  tired  of  novels  and  magazines, 
and  I  felt  as  if  I  wanted  something  more  solid.  Be- 
sides, I  thought  it  would  be  such  a  good  thing  if  I 
could  improve  my  mind  a  little  so  as  to  be  more  of  a 
companion  to  you." 

"  But  I  don't  want  you  to  improve  your  mind  ;  I 
am  quite  satisfied  with  you  as  you  are.  And  I  would 
rather  you  did  not  read  books  of  that  kind." 

"  Why,  is  there  any  harm  in  it  ? "  asked  Cecily. 
"  I  was  getting  quite  interested  in  it,  and  I  am  de- 
lighted to  find  that  I  can  understand  it  nearly  all. 
There  are  only  a  few  scientific  terms  I  wanted  to  ask 
you  the  meaning  of." 

"  I  don't  approve  of  science  as  a  study  for  women," 
he  said  decidedly.  "  It  unsettles  their  minds,  and 
makes  them  tiresome  and  pedantic.  You  see  your  dear 
little  brains  are  not  strong  enough  to  take  a  compre- 
hensive view  of  any  wide  subject." 

"  Oh,"  said  Cecily,  looking  rather  depressed  at  the 
thought  of  the  mental  inferiority  of  her  sex.  "  Do  you 
know,  Miles,  I  sometimes  wonder  why  God  made 
women." 


A  STUDY   IN  PREJUDICES.  129 

"  To  carry  on  the  race  and  make  their  husbands 
happy,"  he  returned,  with  the  air  of  one  who  solves  a 
very  easy  problem. 

"  Then  unmarried  women  are  of  no  use  at  all." 

"  Well,  not  much,  except  to  criticise  the  bringing 
up  of  other  people's  children,  and  pauperise  the 
poor." 

"  But  there  are  so  many  of  them,"  she  said,  as  her 
thoughts  turned  to  the  spinsters  of  her  own  class,  many 
of  them  active-minded  intelligent  women,  with  a  long- 
ing to  turn  their  lives  to  some  account,  yet  condemned 
by  reason  of  a  defective  education  and  the  prejudices  of 
their  male  relations  to  a  weary  round  of  afternoon  calls 
and  tea-parties,  relieved  only  by  district  visiting.  "  It 
seems  a  pity  that  they  should  not  be  given  an  opportu- 
nity of  doing  something  really  useful,  and  taught  how 
to  do  it  properly." 

"  I  don't  see  what  they  could  do  that  would  not  take 
the  bread  out  of  men's  mouths  and  be  more  or  less  un- 
sexing.  They  are  barren  fruit-trees — mere  cumberers 
of  the  ground." 

"  But,"  said  Cecily  gently,  "  even  barren  fruit-trees, 
if  they  are  properly  tended  and  allowed  room  to  grow 
and  put  forth  leaves,  may  give  a  pleasant  shade  and 
help  to  sweeten  the  air  around  them.  It  is  only  when 


130  A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES. 

they  are  cramped  or  neglected  that  they  become  stunted 
withered  things,  mere  cumberers  of  the  ground." 

"  You  look  quite  mournful  over  the  fate  of  the 
poor  fruit-trees,"  he  said,  smiling.  "  Come,  give  me 
your  Darwin,  and  I  will  bring  you  up  a  volume  of  Ten- 
nyson or  Mrs.  Browning.  Poetry  will  be  a  change  from 
novels  and  magazines." 

Cecily  relinquished  her  book  without  any  further 
protest.  She  had  not  got  far  enough  in  her  scientific 
studies  to  feel  any  poignant  regret  at  being  obliged  to 
give  them  up. 

It  soon  became  clear  that  the  Dormers  were  not  to  be 
left  much  longer  to  the  uninterrupted  enjoyment  of 
each  other's  society.  In  literary  and  artistic  circles 
"  everybody "  is  in  town  in  November  when  a  season 
begins,  which  is  pleasanter  and  more  sociable,  if  less 
brilliant,  than  the  orthodox  one  which  extends  from 
May  to  July.  The  house  in  Camden  Gardens  was  soon 
besieged  by  callers,  who  followed  up  the  attack  by  in- 
vitations to  dinners,  dances,  and  "  At  Homes." 

The  first  entertainment  of  any  importance  to  which 
the  newly-married  couple  were  invited  was  a  ball  given 
by  a  Maecenas  of  the  theatrical  world,  in  celebration  of 
the  five-hundredth  performance  of  the  play  which  was 
running  at  his  theatre. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  131 

."I  suppose  we  must  go,"  said  Miles  with  a  sigh 
when  he  saw  the  gorgeous  invitation  card.  "  It  is  as 
well  for  the  poor  playwright  to  keep  on  good  terms 
with  Belger.  I  dare  say  it  .will  amuse  you  to  see  Bo  • 
hernia  in  excelsis  for  once  in  a  way,  Cecily.  You 
must  put  on  all  your  finery,  my  pretty  one,  for  the 
theatrical  beauties  will  be  there  in  all  their  war- 
paint." 

On  the  night  in  question,  Cecily  arrayed  herself 
with  anxious  care,  for  she  was  determined  that  Miles 
should  be  proud  of  her,  and  that  his  friends  should 
think  that  she  did  credit  to  his  taste.  When  she  had 
donned  her  white  satin  gown  and  the  pearl  ornaments 
that  had  been  her  husband's  gift,  and  arranged  her  hair 
in  the  most  becoming  fashion,  she  could  not  help  smil- 
ing with  pleasure  at  her  own  image  in  the  glass.  Never 
had  she  felt  less  personal  vanity,  nor  more  gratitude 
for  the  meed  of  beauty  that  had  been  vouchsafed  to 
her. 

"  I  know  Miles  doesn't  love  me  for  my  looks  alone," 
she  said  to  herself.  "  But  all  the  same,  I  am  glad  for 
his  sake  as  well  as  my  own  that  I  haven't  got  a  pug 
nose  and  a  squint." 

With  this  thought  in  her  mind  she  went  down  to 
the  drawing-room,  where  her  husband  was  awaiting  her, 


132  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

and  placed  herself  full  in  the  light  of  a  big  standard 
lamp. 

"  Well,  do  you  like  me  ?  "  she  asked,  glancing  shyly 
up  at  him.  "Shall  I  do?" 

Miles  stared  silently  at  her  for  a  moment,  almost 
dazed  by  the  brilliancy  of  the  apparition.  He  had 
never  seen  his  wife  in  a  ball-dress  before,  and  he  felt  a 
thrill  of  mingled  admiration  and  uneasiness  at  the  sight 
of  this  superb  young  creature,  with  the  swan-like  neck, 
the  dazzling  arms  and  shoulders,  the  satin,  lace,  and 
pearls.  He  realised  that  they  had  come  to  the  end  of 
their  happy  solitude  a  deux,  the  final  break-up  of  their 
Eden  life,  in  which  there  had  been  but  one  man  and 
one  woman.  When  Cecily  had  once  been  seen,  society 
would  certainly  assert  its  claim  upon  her ;  she  would  be 
admired,  flattered,  and  made  much  of,  while  he — he 
who  had  the  best  right  to  her — would  look  on  from  the 
background  with  wistful  eyes,  and  be  thought  ridiculous 
if  he  claimed  a  word  or  a  glance  from  her.  Other  men, 
younger  and  more  attractive  than  he,  would  listen  to 
the  voice,  bask  in  the  smiles,  and  enjoy  the  favours  that 
once  had  been  reserved  for  himself  alone.  To  do  him 
justice,  he  was  not  jealous  of  his  wife's  prospective  so- 
cial success,  nor  doubtful  of  her  constancy,  but  he  was 
troubled  at  the  thought  of  losing  her  from  his  side  even 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  133 

for  a  few  hours,  sharing  her  interest  and  sympathy  with 
others,  and  seeing  her  happy  and  at  home  in  a  world  in 
which  he  always  felt  himself  an  alien  and  a  stranger. 

Something  of  his  feeling  must  have  shown  itself  in 
his  face,  for  the  light  died  out  of  Cecily's  eyes,  and  she 
asked  anxiously : 

"Is  anything  wrong?     Don't  you  like  me?" 

"  I  think  you  are  the  lovelist  creature  I  ever  saw," 
he  answered  slowly.  "  There  won't  be  another  woman 
there  to-night  fit  to  hold  a  candle  to  you." 

"  Not  in  your  opinion,  perhaps,"  said  Cecily,  smil- 
ing. "  Their  husbands  and  lovers  may  think  differ- 
ently. But  if  you  are  really  pleased  with  me,  why  do 
you  look  so  sad  ?  " 

"  I  was  only  thinking  something  rather  foolish. 
I  won't  tell  it  you  for  fear  it  should  spoil  your 
evening's  pleasure." 

"  But  you  must ! "  she  cried  peremptorily.  "  You 
never  think  foolish  thoughts,  and  how  could  I  enjoy 
myself  when  you  were  looking  sorrowful?  Tell 
me,"  she  repeated,  leaiiing  over  his  chair,  and  bring- 
ing her  head  down  on  a  level  with  his.  "  Tell  me, 
dear." 

"I  was  only  thinking,"  said  Miles  reluctantly,  as 
though  the  words  were  drawn  from  him  against  his 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

will,  "  that  I  shall  scarcely  be  able  to  exchange  a  word 
with  you  to-night.  And  perhaps  I  was  regretting  just 
a  little  the  long  delightful  evenings  when  I  had  you  all 
to  myself,  when  we  read,  and  talked,  and  worked  to- 
gether, and  forgot  that  anyone  else  existed  in  the 
whole  world.  But  I  am  afraid  that  was  a  surly  and 
selfish  rather  than  a  foolish  thought." 

"Is  that  all  that  was  troubling  you?"  exclaimed 
Cecily,  her  face  lighting  up  again.  "  Fancy  your  not 
having  the  courage  to  tell  me  at  once.  Do  you  suppose 
I  wouldn't  rather  spend  the  evening  alone  with  you 
than  go  to  a  million  balls  ?  I  was  only  glad  to  think 
I  looked  nice  because  I  wanted  to  do  you  credit. 
But  why  should  we  go  to  parties  or  strangers'  houses 
when  we  are  so  happy  alone  together  at  home?  "We 
will  not  go,  Miles." 

"  Yes,  yes,  we  must,"  he  put  in  hastily.  "  I  cannot 
keep  you  to  myself  for  ever,  darling — you  who  are  so 
young  and  pretty  and  full  of  life.  Don't  attend  to 
what  I  said ;  I  did  not  really  mean  it.  I  want  you  to 
be  happy  and  enjoy  yourself." 

His  protestations  were  cut  short  by  the  entrance  of 
the  parlour-maid,  and  the  announcement  that  the 
carriage  was  at  the  door. 

"  Send  it  away,"    said   her  mistress    impetuously. 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  135 

"We  are  not  going  out  to-night.  And,  Jane,  you 
can  go  to  bed  as  soon  as  you  like ;  we  sha'n't  want 
anything  more." 

As  soon  as  the  astonished  maid  had  retired,  Cecily 
turned  to  her  husband  again. 

"  I'll  just  go  up  and  exchange  my  finery  for  a  tea- 
gown,"  she  said.  "  And  then  we  will  have  one  of  our 
own  delightful  evenings." 

"  No,  no,"  cried  Miles.  "  I  want  to  have  you  as 
you  -are,  pearls  and  satin,  and  beauty  and  all.  I  want 
to  feel  that  you  are  mine — all  mine,  and  that  no  other 
man  has  any  share  in  you,  even  with  his  eyes." 

He  opened  his  arms,  and  Cecily  dropped  into  them 
like  a  great  white  bird  settling  down  into  its  nest.  Laces 
were  crushed,  satins  creased,  and  curls  ruffled  by  his 
embrace;  but  she  gave  no  thought  to  her  crumpled 
plumes,  since  perfect  love  is  strong  enough  to  cast  out 
even  feminine  vanity. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

A  FEW  days  after  the  night  of  the  ball,  which  the 
Dormers  had  enjoyed  by  their  own  fireside,  Cecily  re- 
ceived a  note  of  invitation  which  gave  her  unusual 
pleasure,  and  helped  to  lighten  the  burden  of  appre- 
hension which,  though  often  forgotten  or  ignored,  was 
never  long  absent  from  her  mind. 

"  Dear  Cecily,"  it  ran.  "  You  know  I  can't  call  on 
you  so  will  you  waive  your  bridal  dignity,  and  come 
and  see  me  ?  I  did  not  answer  your  letter  announc- 
ing your  engagement  because  I  thought  you  had  be- 
haved badly  both  to  Jasper  and  to  me  in  giving  us  no 
hint  of  it  beforehand.  You  know  you  did  encourage 
Jasper  in  a  very  reprehensible  manner,  considering  that 
you  had  no  serious  intentions.  However,  as  I  miss 
your  visits,  and  am  curious  to  hear  how  you  like  being 
married,  I  am  willing  to  forgive  you  so  far  as  to  receive 
you  amiably  whenever  you  choose  to  call. 
"  Yours  sincerely 

"  DULCIBELLA  FLEMING." 
136 


A  STUDY  IX  PREJUDICES.  137 

Cecily  was  so  much  relieved  by  the  tone  of  this 
note,  which  was  quite  cordial  for  Dulcibella,  that  she 
determined  to  call  in  Wisteria  Road  the  same  after- 
noon. It  seemed  clear  that  Jasper  as  well  as  his  sister 
must  have  forgiven  her,  or  Dulcie  would  never  have 
sent  her  an  invitation  to  renew  their  intimacy,  and 
therefore  she  concluded  that  she  had  nothing  to  fear 
on  account  of  any  wound  she  might  unwittingly  have 
caused  him. 

On  her  arrival  at  the  Flemings'  house  Cecily  was 
shown  into  Dulcie's  little  sitting-room,  where  the  in- 
valid was  lying  on  her  sofa,  a  pile  of  new  books  and 
magazines  on  the  table  by  her  side. 

"  Come  here,"  she  said,  as  Cecily  entered  the  room. 
"  Come  and  stand  in  front  of  me,  and  let  me  have  a 
good  look  at  you.  Ah,"  she  continued,  as  her  visitor 
obediently  placed  herself  in  the  required  position, 
"  you  are  even  better-looking  than  you  were,  or  perhaps 
it  is  only  that  you  are  better  dressed.  Well,  and  how 
does  being  married  agree  with  you  ?  " 

"  Very  nicely,  thank  you,"  replied  Cecily  demurely. 

"  You  must  bring  your  Mr.  What's-his-name  to  see 
me  next  time  you  come,"  went  on  Miss  Fleming.  "  I 
shall  be  curious  to  see  what  sort  of  blank  you  have 
drawn  in  the  marriage  lottery,  but  I  suppose  you  think 


138  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

him  a  prize  at  present.  Of  course,  he'll  dislike  me, 
but  that's  of  no  consequence.  I  daresay  I  shall  return 
the  compliment." 

"  You  may  dislike  him,"  said  Cecily,  "  but  I  am 
sure  that  he  will  like  you,  because  he  knows  that  you 
have  been  very  kind  to  me." 

"  Then  I  conclude  that  he  will  like  Jasper  even 
better,  because  Jasper  was  a  great  deal  kinder  to  you 
than  I  was." 

Cecily  flushed  under  the  taunt,  but  made  no  reply. 

"  There,  I  won't  tease  you  any  more,"  said  Dulcie. 
"I  only  wanted  to  make  you  feel  a  little  uncomfort- 
able, because  you  look  so  insolently  well  and  so  arro- 
gantly happy.  What  fools  people  are  who  talk  about 
the  laws  of  compensation.  Here  am  I,  old,  ugly,  help- 
less, and  without  the  consolation  of  having  had  joy  and 
love  in  my  youth.  And  here  are  you,  young,  healthy, 
beautiful,  and  married  to  the  man  of  your  heart. 
Even  if  you  lose  your  happiness  in  the  future,  you 
can  never  be  brought  down  to  my  level.  You  will 
have  had  it." 

"  Yes,  I  shall  have  had  it,"  replied  Cecily  solemnly, 
as  though  she  had  a  prophetic  vision  of  days  in  which 
the  "  remembering  of  happier  things  "  would  be  her 
only  comfort  as  well  as  her  crown  of  sorrows. 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  139 

"  Well,  I  didn't  mean  to  make  you  gloomy,"  said 
Dulcie.  "  I  can  always  manufacture  my  own  gloom  on 
the  premises.  Tell  me  things  to  make  me  laugh." 

Thus  bidden,  Cecily  did  her  best  to  enliven  the  in- 
valid with  an  account  of  her  adventures  abroad,  and 
her  experiences  since  her  return.  Half  an  hour 
passed  in  this  way  before  she  summoned  up  courage 
to  ask  : 

"  How  is  your  brother  ?    Quite  \vell,  I  hope." 

"  Oh,  Jasper  is  all  right,"  returned  Dulcie  care- 
lessly. "  He  seems  to  have  got  over  you  wonderfully 
well,  thanks  to  not  seeing  you ;  it  is  always  a  case  of 
'  out  of  sight,  out  of  mind '  with  him.  Besides  you 
are  not  the  sort  of  woman  a  man  can  be  angry  with 
long,  however  badly  you  may  behave  to  him.  Jasper  is 
so  far  convalescent  that  I  thought  it  would  be  safe 
for  him  to  see  you  again,  as  long  as  you  will  promise 
not  to  encourage  him.  Shall  I  send  and  tell  him  you 
are  here,  or  will  you  go  and  surprise  him  in  the 
studio  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no,  I  would  rather  you  sent  for  him,"  replied 
Cecily  nervously. 

A  few  minutes  later  Jasper  made  his  appearance. 
He  was  evidently  ill  at  ease,  and  to  hide  his  embarrass- 
ment had  wrapped  himself  in  one  of  his  most  sombre 


140  A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES. 

and  melancholy  moods.  Cecily  found  it  hard  to  realise 
that  barely  six  months  before,  this  Byronic-looking 
creature,  with  the  air  of  impenetrable  gloom,  had 
chased  her  round  the  studio,  and  kissed  her  behind  the 
§asel.  So  much  had  happened  since  that  day  that  she 
could  scarcely  consider  herself  responsible  for  her  past 
flightiness,  feeling  rather  as  if  her  youthful  escapades 
had  been  committed  by  some  other  girl  masquerading 
under  the  name  of  Cecily  Tregarthen. 

Meanwhile,  Mr.  Fleming  sat  at  the  foot  of  the  in- 
valid's couch,  and  returned  pessimistic  commonplaces 
to  his  visitor's  questions  about  himself  and  his  work. 
Art  in  England,  if  he  was  to  be  believed,  was  not  only 
dead  and  buried,  but  beyond  all  hope  of  resurrection. 
His  most  important  Academy  picture  was  turning  out  a 
miserable  failure,  but  then  it  was  impossible  to  hire  sat- 
isfactory models,  or  even  to  buy  colours  fit  to  work 
with.  Added  to  which,  he  had  a  strong  suspicion,  al- 
most amounting  to  a  certainty,  that  his  eyesight  was 
giving  way. 

Cecily  listened  and  sympathised  until  her  host  had 
talked  out  all  his  bitterness  and  discontent,  when  he 
suddenly  cheered  up,  and  insisted  upon  her  coming  into 
the  studio  to  see  her  picture  in  its  finished  state.  Cec- 
ily followed  him  in  seme  trepidation,  but  when  he  had 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

placed  the  picture  upon  an  easel,  and  turned  on  the 
electric  light,  she  forgot  her  misgivings  in  unfeigned 
admiration  and  delight. 

"  Oh,  how  lovely  it  is,"  she  exclaimed.  "  But  surely 
you  have  idealised  it  almost  out  of  knowledge." 

"No,  it  is  impossible  for  art  to  idealise  Nature,"  he 
replied,  "  though  it  may  misrepresent  her  in  a  nattering 
manner.  I  simply  managed  to  catch  you  in  your  best 
looks,  and  wearing  your  most  charming  expression.  It 
is  only  very  occasionally  that  you  look  as  beautiful 
as  that,  once  in  two  or  three  months,  perhaps,  and 
only  for  half  an  hour  at  a  time.  The  portrait  cer- 
tainly flatters  you  as  you  are  now,  but  the  capacity  to 
look  like  that  is  always  there." 

"  I  must  try  and  practice  that  expression  before  the 
glass,"  said  Cecily,  delighted  to  find  that  he  had  for- 
given her  sufficiently  to  resume  his  old  habit  of  plain 
speaking.  "  How  is  it  that  the  picture  was  never  ex- 
hibited?" 

"  I  decided  neither  to  exhibit  it  nor  to  sell  it,"  re- 
plied Jasper  shortly.  He  did  not  think  it  necessary  to 
inform  her  that  her  husband  had  written  to  say  he 
wished  to  buy  the  picture,  and  had  begged,  as  a  per- 
sonal favour  to  himself,  that  it  might  not  be  exhibited, 
since  he  disliked  the  idea  of  his  future  wife's  features 


14-2  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

being  exposed  to  public  view  at  Burlington  House.  To 
that  letter  Fleming  had  replied  that  he  did  not  intend 
•  to  sell  the  picture,  but  that  in  deference  to  Mr.  Dor- 
mer's wishes,  he  would  refrain  from  exhibiting  it. 

"  How  are  you  getting  on  with  your  drawing  ? " 
asked  Jasper  presently.  "  I  hope  you  don't  think,  like 
many  women,  that  marriage  is  a  profession  in  itself,  and 
one  that  cannot  be  carried  on  in  conjunction  with  any 
other." 

"  Oh,  no,"  said  Cecily,  looking  a  little  embarrassed. 
"  I  haven't  given  up  my  drawing.  I  am  designing  a  set 
of  illustrations  for  a  volume  of  short  stories  of — of  Mr. 
Dormer's." 

The  artist  turned  from  her  with  an  impatient  ges- 
ture, and  busied  himself  in  putting  the  picture  away. 
Then  Cecily  declared  that  it  was  time  for  her  to  go,  and 
held  out  her  hand  in  farewell.  As  Jasper  held  it  for  a 
moment  between  his  own,  he  asked,  with  a  sudden 
change  of  look  and  tone  : 

"  Are  you  happy,  Cecily  ?  " 

"  Yes,  of  course,"  she  answered,  with  a  nervous  little 
laugh.  "  Good-bye." 

By  the  indifference  of  her  manner,  the  lack  of  en- 
thusiasm in  her  voice,  and  her  formal  mention  of  her 
husband  as  "  Mr.  Dormer,"  she  had  quite  unconsciously 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

produced  a  false  impression  on  her  former  lover.  Jas- 
per possessed  a  dangerously  vivid  imagination,  and  in 
spite  of  his  superficial  pessimism,  was  incurably  san- 
guine at  heart.  On  the  slender  foundation  of  Mrs. 
Dormer's  words  and  tone,  and  the  fact  that  her  hus- 
band was  not  socially  popular,  he  built  up  an  elaborate 
superstructure  of  fancy.  A  very  little  reflection  sufficed 
to  convince  him  that  Cecily  could  never  have  loved  that 
"  sulky  fellow,"  but  that  she  had  been  persuaded  into 
the  marriage  by  her  family.  It  seemed  probable  that 
she  would  soon  be  heartily  tired  of  her  dull  husband ; 
it  was  not  impossible  that  he  might  come  to  treat  her 
with  unkindness  and  neglect.  Already  in  imagination 
he  saw  the  young  wife  alone  and  unhappy,  her  heart 
crying  out  for  affection  and  sympathy.  More  dimly  he 
could  perceive  a  man  at  her  side,  offering  such  consola- 
tions as  respectful  admiration  and  disinterested  friend- 
ship might  afford.  He  did  not  pursue  the  dream 
further,  but  concluded  his  meditations  with  the  deci- 
sion that  since  his  sister  was  unable  to  fulfil  her  social 
duties,  it  was  necessary  that  he,  Jasper,  should  sacrifice 
his  feelings  on  the  altar  of  politeness,  and  return  Mrs. 
Dormer's  call. 

Mr.   Fleming  would   have  been  much  hurt  if  he 

could  have  known  that  Mrs.  Dormer's  thoughts,  as  she 
10 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

drove  home,  were  occupied  with  his  sister  to  the  total 
exclusion  of  himself.  Cecily  could  not  shake  off  the 
sense  of  depression  which  Dulcibella's  remarks  about 
the  law  of  compensation  had  roused  in  her.  Her  great 
happiness  made  her  nervous,  and  not  for  the  first  time, 
she  asked  herself  uneasily,  why  she,  who  had  done 
nothing  to  deserve  it,  should  be  so  blessed,  while  other 
women  who  were  far  better  than  herself,  dragged  out 
dreary,  loveless  lives  ?  She  remembered  that  it  was  not 
always  the  unmarried  who  were  the  most  lonely,  and 
her  thoughts  turned  in  mingled  pity  and  apprehension 
to  the  unenviable  lot  of  many  of  the  married  women  in 
her  circle  of  acquaintance,  more  especially  the  younger 
ones,  since  youth  compassionates  nothing  in  the  elderly 
but  their  age.  It  was  a  continual  puzzle  to  her  how 
Eosamund  Marchmont  could  endure  the  misery  and 
degradation  of  her  life,  and  yet  turn  a  brave  and  cheer- 
ful face  to  the  world. 

Cecily  received  some  explanation  of  this  marvel  a 
day  or  two  later,  in  the  course  of  an  afternoon's  drive 
with  her  friend.  After  an  interesting  interview  with  a 
well-known  tailor,  the  pair  were  driving  down  Picca- 
dilly on  their  way  to  the  Park  when,  in  passing  the 
entrance  to  the  Burlington  Arcade,  they  saw  Mr. 
Marchmont  come  out,  accompanied  by  a  golden-haired 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  145 

lady,  with  a  complexion  that  was  wonderfully  and 
fearfully  made.  He  followed  his  companion  into  a 
hansom,  and,  a  block  occurring  at  the  moment,  was 
detained  for  a  few  seconds  face  to  face  with  his  wife. 
Cecily  felt  herself  blushing  hotly  in  sympathy  with  her 
friend,  but  Mrs.  Marchmont  sat  looking  straight  in 
front  of  her  with  an  expression  of  the  calmest  indif- 
ference. Presently  she  turned  and  met  Cecily's  eyes. 

"Don't  look  so  miserable,"  she  said  with  a  slight 
smile.  "  What  am  I  that  I  should  hope  to  compete 
with  such  a  rival  ?  I  haven't  got  black  eyelids,  a  pink 
chin,  or  butter-coloured  hair." 

Cecily  gazed  at  her  in  astonishment.  "  How  can 
you  bear  it?  "she  broke  out  passionately.  "  How  can 
you  take  it  so  lightly  ?  I  should  kill  either  myself  or 
him." 

"  Yes,  I  can  remember  the  time  when  I  used  to  talk 
in  that  sort  of  way,"  said  Mrs.  Marchmont.  "  But  one 
outgrows  heroics." 

"But  why  do  you  put  up  with  it?"  asked  Cecily, 
seeing  that  all  reserve  between  them  was  at  an  end. 
"  Why  do  you  remain  with  him  ?  " 

"  Because  I  was  brought  up  to  keep  my  word.  I 
took  my  husband  for  better  for  worse,  and  I  promised 
to  cleave  to  him  only  as  long  as  we  both  should  live.  I 


146  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

would  willingly  leave  him  if  he  desired  it,  but  he  never 
has  desired  it.  When  he  is  ill,  or  when  one  of  his  loves 
has  been  unkind,  he  is  very  glad  to  turn  to  me  for 
consolation  and  sympathy.  The  worst  of  it  is  that  he 
still  falls  in  love  with  me  periodically,  and  thinks  me 
very  hard-hearted  because  I  refuse  to  listen  to  his 
protestations." 

"  But  he  has  not  kept  his  share  of  the  contract." 

"  No,  but  as  long  as  a  man  only  perjures  himself  to 
a  woman  and  lies  about  a  horse  his  honour  remains 
intact.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  woman  deceives  her 
husband,  she  is  an  abandoned  reprobate ;  that  is  part  of 
the  gospel  according  to  man.  You  see  I  have  learnt 
my  lesson  quite  perfectly.  I  know  how  to  control  my 
face  as  well  as  my  feelings ;  I  have  my  heart  in  perfect 
order,  and  my  emotions  under  military  discipline." 

"  Oh,  don't  talk  like  that — I  hate  to  hear  it,"  ex- 
claimed Cecily  passionately.  "  When  a  woman  is  young 
and  pretty  and  has  a  natural  craving  for  love  and  hap- 
piness, how  can  she  crush  down  her  heart  and  set  a  seal 
upon  her  emotions  ?  " 

"  Only  by  cultivating  her  mind,"  replied  Mrs. 
Marchrnont,  "and  even  that  resource  would  be  with- 
held from  her  if  most  men  could  have  their  way.  She 
may  read,  of  course,  as  long  as  she  keeps  the  repre- 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  147 

hensible  practice  to  herself,  but  that  is  like  living 
entirely  on  tinned  and  potted  foods.  She  seldom 
meets  another  woman  with  whom  she  can  exchange 
ideas,  or  discuss  the  questions  that  interest  her,  while 
the  men  of  her  acquaintance  brand  her  as  'new'  or 
*  advanced '  if  she  ventures  into  deeper  water  than  a 
dissertation  on  the  last  new  play  or  picture-show.  It  is 
a  curious  thing  that  people  are  always  filled  with  pity 
and  indignation  when  they  hear  of  a  woman's  body 
being  starved,  but  they  have  no  sympathy  for  one  who 
suffers  the  far  worse  starvation  of  heart  and  mind. 
However,  I  ought  not  to  grumble,  for  I  actually  have 
one  man  friend  who  talks  to  me  as  if  I  were  a  rational 
being,  who  doesn't  think  that  if  one  is  born  a  woman 
one  ought  to  die  a  house-keeper." 

"  Mr.  Spenser  ?  "  put  in  Cecily. 

"  Yes,  for  the  past  two  years  we  have  been  trying 
that  experiment  which  the  world  can  never  be  brought 
to  believe  in — a  friendship  between  a  man  and  a 
woman." 

"  I'm  afraid  yours  is  rather  a  one-sided  friendship," 
said  Cecily,  smiling.  "  At  least,  Mr.  Spenser  does  not 
look  at  you  in  a  very  friendly  way." 

"  A^  one-sided  friendship  is  more  likely  to  last  than 
a  two-sided  one.  The  woman  can  generally  keep  her 


148  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

heart  when  she  knows  that  the  man  has  lost  his ;  that 
is,  if  there  are  good  reasons  that  she  should  do  so. 
That  sounds  rather  cruel,  but  I  don't  believe  it  does  a 
man  any  harm  to  fall  in  love  with  a  woman  whom  he 
knows  he  can  neither  marry  nor  lead  astray.  It  teaches 
him  self-control  and  respect  for  the  other  sex,  while  he 
enjoys  a  happy  love-affair  all  the  more  when  it  comes, 
as  it  surely  will.  A  man  is  always  ready  to  exchange 
the  substance  of  friendship  for  the  shadow  of  love." 

"  And  a  woman  ?  "  asked  Cecily  softly. 

"As  a  rule  she  grows  passionate  when  the  man 
turns  platonic,  but  as  she  has  been  brought  up  to 
suppress  her  feelings,  she  shows  nothing  of  the 
change  that  has  taken  place  within  her,  and  no  harm 
is  done." 

"  No  harm  in  unrequited  love ! "  exclaimed  Cecily. 
"  Oh,  how  I  wish  that  you  and  every  other  woman 
could  be  as  happy  as  I  am." 

"  Poor  child,  you  think  you  have  found  the  phi- 
losopher's stone,"  said  Mrs.  Marchmont,  "  when  all  you 
have  got  is  a  little  bit  of  tinsel,  which  I  and  most 
other  women  have  held  in  our  hands  at  some  time  or 
other.  When  we  find  that  it  is  nothing  but  common 
tinsel,  some  of  us  throw  it  away,  and  continue  our 
search  for  the  stone  that  shall  transmute  all  our  sur- 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  149 

round  ings  into  gold,  while  some  of  us  keep  our  bit  of 
tinsel,  and  make  the  best  of  it.  You  will  have  to  make 
your  choice  some  day." 

Cecily  made  no  reply,  but  reflected  that  her  friend's 
unfortunate  experience  had  rendered  her  unduly  cyni- 
cal and  pessimistic.  The  love  of  ordinary  men  per- 
haps, was  no  better  than  tinsel,  but  surely  the  love  of 
a  man  like  Miles  might  be  compared  to  the  magic 
stone  that  was  able  to  transform  even  the  basest  clay 
into  precious  metal. 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

WITH  a  pathetic  desire  to  conciliate  Fate  by  diffus- 
ing some  of  her  own  unmerited  happiness,  Cecily 
began,  in  the  first  weeks  of  her  new  life,  to  look  around 
her  for  some  of  those  step-children  of  nature  or  society 
who  are  in  chronic  need  of  help  and  sympathy.  In 
this  benevolent  purpose  she  received  every  encourage- 
ment from  her  husband,  for  Miles,  mindful  of  his  own 
early  struggles,  had  been  accustomed,  since  the  dawn 
of  more  prosperous  days,  to  give  aid  both  in  time  and 
money  to  some  of  the  youngsters  of  his  acquaintance 
•who  were  still  going  through  the  literary  or  artistic 
mill,  and  getting  ground  rather  small  in  the  process. 
Cecily  was  delighted  to  share  in  such  a  kindly  work. 
She  invited  hungry  journalists  and  dramatic  authors  to 
meet  editors  and  managers  at  dinners  calculated  to 
soften  the  hearts  of  the  latter,  listened  with  inexhaust- 
ible patience  to  the  outpourings  of  minor  poets,  took 
anaemic  girl-students  for  country  drives,  and  induced 

150 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  151 

her  husband  to  lend  small  sums  to  poverty-stricken 
artists,  who  only  needed  the  means  of  procuring 
colours  and  models  in  order  to  produce  Academy 
pictures. 

As  the  winter  wore  on,  the  Dormers'  circle  of  ac- 
quaintance was  daily  enlarged,  and  invitations  poured 
in  upon  them  with  embarrassing  abundance.  It  would 
have  been  impossible  to  refuse  even  a  tithe  of  the  din- 
ners, dances,  theatre-parties,  and  "  At  Homes,"  without 
offending  well-meaning  friends,  old  or  new;  besides, 
when  the  plunge  was  once  taken,  Cecily  felt  no  desire 
to  renounce  society  altogether  in  favour  of  her  own 
fireside.  It  was  undeniably  pleasant  to  be  sought 
after  and  made  much  of,  to  find  herself  surrounded, 
wherever  she  went,  by  friendly  faces  and  admiring  eyes. 
Moreover,  the  hours  wherein  she  was  forced  to  ignore 
her  husband's  presence  and  bestow  all  her  attention  on 
strangers,  were  more  than  compensated  for  by  the  en- 
hanced delight  they  felt  in  each  other's  company  when 
they  were  alone  together  once  more. 

And  strange  to  say,  Miles,  who  had  hitherto  only 
regarded  society  as  a  fine  field  of  observation  for  the 
novelist  or  the  playwright,  began  to  catch  the  infection 
of  Cecily's  enjoyment,  though  his  was  of  a  more  vica- 
rious kind.  He  felt  a  genuine  pride  in  his  wife's  beauty 


152  A  STUDY  IN  PKEJUDICES. 

and  charm ;  he  liked  to  see  her  admired  and  petted, 
and,  rather  to  his  own  surprise,  he  had  been,  so  far, 
entirely  free  from  jealousy.  But  then  Cecily  had  al- 
ways walked  so  circumspectly,  and  was,  moreover,  so 
utterly  and  undisguisedly  devoted  to  himself,  that  it 
would  have  taken  a  more  unreasonable  man  than  Miles 
to  doubt  her  constancy. 

But  it  is  impossible  for  a  woman  to  be  beautiful 
and  popular  without  making  enemies,  either  among 
the  admirers  she  has  been  compelled  to  snub,  or  among 
the  women  from  whom  she  has  unconsciously  filched 
them.  As  time  went  on  there  were  whispers  that  Mrs. 
Dormer  was  not  as  good  as  she  looked,  and  that  hers 
was  a  case  of  "  still  waters  run  deep  " ;  while  many 
eyes  and  ears  were  open  to  detect  the  young  wife  in 
some  piece  of  imprudence  or  worse,  which  should 
justify  the  rumours  that  were  afloat  concerning 
her. 

Among  the  keenest  of  the  watching  eyes  and  lis- 
tening ears  were  those  of  Mrs.  Bingley,  who  bore  a 
grudge  against  her  sister-in-law  on  several  counts.  In 
the  first  place,  Cecily  had  refused  to  profit  by  Maria's 
advice  about  house-keeping  matters,  an  injury  which  was 
aggravated  by  the  fact  that  she  kept  her  servants  and 
gave  excellent  dinners.  Secondly,  Mrs.  Dormer  had 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  153 

treated  her  nephews  and  nieces  with  most  culpable 
neglect,  not  even  giving  a  children's  party  for  them  at 
Christmas,  which,  Mrs.  Bingley  considered,  was  her 
bounden  duty  as  the  aunt  of  such  interesting  cherubs. 
Worst  of  all,  Cecily  was  a  social  success,  which  Mrs. 
Bingley  most  distinctly  was  not.  The  elder  lady  was 
accustomed  to  thank  Heaven  that  she  was  no  gad- 
about, a  compulsory  virtue,  since  she  eagerly  accepted 
every  invitation  that  she  received.  It  was  a  bitter  an- 
noyance to  her  that  Mrs.  Dormer  was  invited  to  many 
desirable  houses,  the  doors  of  which  had  never  been 
open  to  Mrs.  Bingley.  Maria  was  one  of  those  persons, 
not  rarely  to  be  met  with,  who  have  a  chronic  quarrel 
with  society  because,  although  they  contribute  noth- 
ing towards  its  pleasure  or  amusement,  it  does  not 
instantly  recognise  and  appreciate  their  intrinsic 
merits. 

For  some  time  Mrs.  Bingley  found  no  better 
method  of  venting  her  ill-humour  against  her  sister-in- 
law  than  by  deploring  to  all  her  friends  the  levity  and 
worldliness  of  her  poor  brother's  young  wife,  and  by 
remarking  to  Cecily  herself  that  Miles  was  looking  thin 
and  yellow,  and  suggesting  that  he  was  probably  kept 
up  too  late  at  night,  or  in  need  of  a  plainer,  more 
wholesome  diet.  But  eyes  sharpened  by  malice  usually 

t 


154:  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

contrive,   sooner  or  later,  to  see  all  that  they  desire 
to  see. 

"  I  find  that  I  shall  be  obliged  to  go  down  to 
Devonshire  to-morrow  on  business,"  said  Miles  one 
morning  at  breakfast.  "  It  is  a  great  nuisance,  because 
I  shall  not  be  able  to  get  back  until  the  afternoon  of 
the  following  day." 

"But  you  will  take  me  with  you,"  said  Cecily, 
surprised  at  his  speaking  as  though  he  intended  to 
leave  her  behind.  "  What  part  of  Devonshire  are  you 
going  to  ?  " 

"  Ilf racombe,"  he  replied,  looking  a  little  embar- 
rassed. "  You  see  it  is  a  long  way  to  go  for  so  short  a 
time,  and  the  country  will  be  looking  dreary  at  this 
season  of  the  year,  so  I  thought  it  would  be  better 
for  you  to  remain  comfortably  at  home." 

"  Oh,  but  I  should  enjoy  the  change,,"  she  said,  feel- 
ing hurt  at  the  ease  with  which  he  was  arranging  to 
leave  her  for  at  least  a  day  and  a  half.  "  I  have  always 
wished  to  see  Devonshire,  because  it  is  your  native 
county.  Perhaps  we  should  have  time  to  visit  your 
old  home." 

"  No,  I  must  get  back  next  day,"  he  said.  "  And  I 
am  afraid  you  would  find  it  very  dull,  dearest.  I  should 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  155 

have  to  leave  you  alone  while  I  attended  to  this  busi- 
ness. If  you  wish  to  see  Devonshire  I  will  take  you 
there  when  the  warm  weather  comes,  and  we  will  do 
the  regular  round." 

"But  it  isn't  Devonshire  I  really  care  about," 
pleaded  Cecily,  her  eyes  filling  with  tears.  "  I  only 
wanted  to  be  with  you.  But  perhaps  you  would  rather 
go  alone ;  perhaps  it  would  be  more  of  a  holiday  for 
you." 

A  big  lump  rose  in  her  throat  and  checked  further 
speech,  while  the  tears  that  had  gathered  in  her  eyes 
welled  over,  and  began  to  trickle  slowly  down  her 
cheeks.  It  was  the  first  time  that  Miles  had  seen  her 
cry  since  their  wedding-day,  when  she  had  wept  over  the 
parting  with  Madge  and  Peter,  and  the  sight  filled  him 
with  consternation  and  self-reproach. 

"  Don't  cry,  my  darling,"  he  cried,  upsetting  his  egg- 
cup,  and  hurrying  round  to  Cecily's  end  of  the  table,  his 
handkerchief  in  one  hand,  and  a  piece  of  toast  in  the 
other.  "  You  make  me  feel  such  a  monster  of  cruelty. 
Of  course  I  want  to  have  you  with  me  now  and  always ; 
it  was  on  your  account  that  I  thought  of  going  alone. 
You  shall  do  whatever  you  like,  my  dearest  child,  if 
only  you  will  stop  crying,  and  tell  me  that  you  forgive 
me." 


156  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"You  gave  me  such  a  fright,"  said  Cecily,  as  her 
husband  kissed  away  the  tears  from  her  eyes.  "  I 
thought  you  were  beginning  to  get  tired  of  me.  And  I 
should  have  been  so  dreadfully  anxious  and  miserable  if 
you  had  gone  away  without  me.  I  should  have  lain 
awake  all  night  thinking  about  robbers  and  railway 
accidents  and  hotel  fires." 

"  And  you  are  really  willing  to  face  all  these  dangers 
for  my  sake?"  returned  Miles  with  a  laugh  which 
sounded  just  a  little  forced. 

The  next  morning  the  pair  set  off  together  on  their 
long  journey,  Cecily  in  high  spirits  at  the  prospect  of 
their  holiday,  and  feeling  as  if  she  was  about  to  enjoy  a 
second  honeymoon.  Miles  was  more  silent  than  usual, 
and  if  his  wife  had  been  in  the  mood  to  criticise  him, 
she  might  have  noticed  that  his  manner  was  slightly 
uneasy  and  constrained.  They  reached  Ilfracombe  in 
time  for  a  late  lunch,  and  afterwards  Miles  explained 
that  he  would  have  to  go  out  at  once  to  see  about  his 
business,  which  would  probably  detain  him  until  near 
dinner-time. 

"  What  would  you  like  to  do  with  yourself  ? "  he 
asked.  "Will  you  walk  about,  or  would  you  rather 
have  a  carriage  for  a  couple  of  hours  ?  " 

"I  think  I  had  better  drive,  as  I  don't  know  my 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  157 

way  about,"  said  Cecily.  "Can  I  drop  you  any- 
where?" 

"No,  I  shall  be  glad  to  stretch  my  legs  after  the 
long  journey,"  he  replied.  "  Besides,  I  am  going  to  an 
uninteresting  part  of  the  town." 

The  afternoon  was  fine  for  the  time  of  the  year,  and 
Cecily  enjoyed  her  leisurely  drive  about  the  town  and 
the  neighbourhood.  After  she  had  given  the  order  to 
return  to  the  hotel,  the  carriage  passed  along  a  road 
which  seemed  to  be  wholly  given  up  to  lodging  houses. 
Cecily  was  glancing  languidly  at  the  dingy  little  build- 
ings with  the  highly  ornamental  names  when  her  eyes 
suddenly  lit  up  with  interest,  for  she  fancied  that  she 
discerned  a  familiar  figure  some  way  ahead.  Surely 
that  was  Miles's  coat  and  Miles's  walk.  She  was  still 
trying  to  make  up  her  mind  as  to  his  identity  when  he 
turned  in  at  the  garden-gate  of  a  small  detached  house, 
and  rang  the  bell.  He  was  standing  with  his  back  to 
the  road  as  the  carriage  passed,  but  it  was  Miles  him- 
self beyond  a  doubt.  Glancing  over  her  shoulder 
Cecily  saw  that  he  was  admitted  into  the  house,  which 
bore  the  name  of  Combe  Cottage,  and  was  more  attrac- 
tive in  appearance  than  most  of  its  neighbours,  having 
clean  curtains  and  flowers  in  the  windows. 

Miles  did  not  get  back  to  the  hotel  till  just  in  time 


158  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

to  dress  for  dinner.  He  looked  pale  and  tired,  but 
made  an  effort  to  talk  and  appear  like  himself,  in- 
quiring about  Cecily's  drive  and  the  various  places  she 
had  seen.  When  she  had  answered  all  his  questions, 
she  asked  with  a  mischievous  smile : 

"  And  you  ?  Did  you  enjoy  yourself  at  Combe 
Cottage?" 

To  her  astonishment  her  husband  started  as  if  he 
had  been  shot,  and  turned  upon  her  a  look  of  mingled 
fury  and  suspicion. 

"  You — you  followed  me  ?  "  he  stammered  in  husky 
tones. 

"  No,  of  course  not,"  answered  Cecily,  in  hurt  sur- 
prise. "  How  can  you  think  of  such  a  thing  ?  I  hap- 
pened to  be  driving  that  way,  and  I  saw  you  at  the  door 
of  Combe  Cottage.  You  surely  don't  suspect  me  of 
spying  upon  you  ?  " 

"  No,  no,  I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  said  hastily.  "  I 
am  tired  and  stupid  to-night,  and  I  could  not  under- 
stand how  you  had  got  the  name  so  pat.  The  fact  is," 
he  continued,  recovering  his  self-possession,  "  my  busi- 
ness was  really  on  other  people's  account,  and  I  felt 
bound  to  respect  their  confidence." 

"  I  see,"  said  Cecily,  only  too  glad  to  be  reassured. 
"  I  suppose  it  is  nothing  in  which  I  could  help  ?  " 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  159 

"  No,  dear ;  it  is  only  a  case  of  a  little  advice  and 
assistance  to  two  maiden  ladies  whose  father  had  a  farm 
close  to  my  old  home.  They  used  to  be  very  kind  to 
me  when  I  was  a  boy,  and  now  that  they  have  come 
down  in  the  world  I  am  glad  to  have  the  opportunity  of 
helping  them.  They  keep  a  lodging-house,  and  they 
managed  to  get  into  difficulties  with  their  landlord, 
but  I  have  been  able  to  put  the  business  straight  for 
them.  I  did  not  suggest  taking  you  to  see  them,  be- 
cause they  are  very  sensitive,  and  would  not  like  anyone 
to  know  that  they  have  received  assistance  from  me." 

"  Poor  old  dears !  I  am  glad  they  have  found  a 
friend  in  you,"  said  Cecily.  "  How  good  you  are, 
Miles." 

"  Nonsense,  it  is  no  question  of  goodness,"  he  replied 
brusquely.  "  Any  other  man  in  my  position  would  have 
done  the  same." 


11 


CHAPTEE  XIV. 

ONE  of  the  most  regular  attendants  at  Mrs.  Dormer's 
Sunday  afternoon  "  At  Homes  "  was  her  whilom  instruct- 
or, Jasper  Fleming.  Cecily  could  not  accuse  herself  of 
having  encouraged  his  visits ;  indeed,  mindful  of  Dulci- 
bella's  warning,  she  had  never  invited  him  to  the  house, 
though  Miles  had  occasionally  proposed  his  name  when 
an  "  unattached  man  "  was  required  for  a  dinner-party. 
But  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  was  not  responsible  for 
his  frequent  appearance  in  her  drawing-room,  and  that 
she  invariably  introduced  him  to  the  prettiest  women 
present,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  embark  upon  an- 
other and  more  fortunate  love-affair,  she  could  not  help 
feeling  a  little  nervous  and  a  little  guilty  each  time 
that  his  name  was  announced.  Yet  Jasper  invariably 
behaved  with  the  most  absolute  propriety,  never  singling 
out  his  hostess  by  his  attentions,  but  devoting  himself 
rather  to  the  society  of  her  husband,  whose  liking  he 
had  won  by  offering  to  paint  for  him  a  replica  of  the 

160 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  161 

picture,  "  Shakespeare's  Rose."  Miles  was  accustomed 
to  say  that  Fleming  was  a  pleasant,  sensible  fellow,  and 
worth  a  dozen  of  the  empty-headed  puppies  who  played 
about  his  wife's  drawing-room. 

Most  conspicuous  among  the  young  men  thus  con- 
temptuously designated  was  Leonard  Bassett,  who  had 
returned  from  a  six  months'  residence  in  Italy,  decid- 
edly improved  both  in  voice  and  manners.  Cecily  had 
been  by  no  means  delighted  to  see  him  when  he  first 
made  his  appearance  at  her  house,  by  reason  of  certain 
incidents  in  her  former  relations  with  him  which  she 
would  gladly  have  forgotten.  But  his  deferential  man- 
ner, his  evident  anxiety  to  please,  and  most  of  all  his 
charming  tenor  voice,  overcame  her  misgivings  and  in- 
duced her  to  extend  to  him  the  sort  of  elder-sisterly 
patronage  that  she  had  formerly  bestowed  upon  Peter. 
Leonard  was  always  ready  to  make  himself  useful  in 
little  ways,  to  run  errands,  procure  concert- tickets,  take 
the  dog  for  an  airing,  and  sing  at  her  musical  parties, 
while  in  return  for  these  services  he  seemed  to  expect 
no  reward  beyond  an  occasional  tete-a-tete,  with  his 
hostess,  in  which  he  confided  to  her  his  troubles  and  his 
aspirations,  his  successes  and  his  disappointments. 
From  the  height  of  her  newly-acquired  dignity  Cecily 
soon  came  to  regard  him  as  "  a  nice  boy,"  over  whose 


162  A  STUDY   IN  PREJUDICES. 

music  and  morals  it  seemed  possible  that  she  might  ex- 
ercise a  beneficent  influence. 

It  was  natural,  perhaps,  that  Mr.  Bassett  should 
regard  himself  and  his  relations  with  Mrs.  Dormer  in 
rather  a  different  light.  He  was  an  astute  young  man 
with  a  keen  eye  to  his  own  interest,  and  he  knew  that 
the  Dormers,  or  rather  the  people  that  he  met  at  their 
house,  were  likely  to  be  useful  to  him  from  a  profes- 
sional point  of  view.  He  was  aware  also  that  he  would 
become  an  object  of  envy  and  admiration  to  all  his 
men  friends  if  he  were  believed  to  be  au  mieux  with 
the  beautiful  Mrs.  Dormer.  He  had  not  the  faintest 
intention  of  committing  any  serious  indiscretion,  or  of 
indulging  in  the  luxury  of  a  grand  passion;  but  the 
consciousness  that  he  had  mildly  compromised  the 
lady,  or  caused  her  husband  just  a  little  uneasiness, 
would  have  been  deliciously  flattering  to  his  self- 
esteem. 

The  world  was  not  long  in  discovering  that  the 
good-looking  young  tenor  was  constantly  at  Mrs.  Dor- 
mer's house,  that  he  generally  managed  to  attend  the 
same  parties  as  herself,  and  that  he  never  sang  with  so 
much  expression  as  when  his  eyes  were  fixed  upon  her 
face.  Women  who  had  been  unable  to  tempt  Mr. 
Bassett  into  a  flirtation  with  themselves,  or  to  persuade 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  163 

him  to  sing  at  their  houses,  began  to  exchange  smiles 
and  meaning  glances  whenever  his  name  was  coupled 
with  Cecily's  ;  while  older  women,  with  whom  coquetry 
had  given  place  to  an  ambition  for  the  reputation  of  a 
popular  hostess,  made  a  point  of  inviting  Leonard  to 
the  same  entertainments  as  Mrs.  Dormer,  and  always 
arranged  that  they  should  sit  next  each  other  at  dinner. 

It  is  probable  that  gossip  would  never  reach  the 
ears  of  the  persons  gossiped  about  if  it  were  not  for  the 
good  offices  of  near  relations -or  old  family  friends,  who 
really  enjoy  plain-speaking,  and  seldom  shrink  from 
making  unpleasant  revelations.  Thus  Miles  remained 
in  blissful  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  Cecily  was  being 
"  talked  about "  until  the  scandal  came  to  Mrs.  Bing- 
ley's  ears.  That  lady  promptly  decided  that  it  was  her 
painful  duty  to  inform  her  poor  deluded  brother  of  the 
reputation  that  his  wife  had  already  gained  for  herself 
in  society. 

Calling  in  Camden  Gardens  at  a  time  when  she 
knew  Cecily  would  be  out,  she  ordered  the  servant  to 
show  her  into  Mr.  Dormer's  study.  Miles  looked  up 
from  his  work  as  she  entered  with  an  air  of  gloomy 
resignation.  Much  as  he  respected  his  sister's  house- 
wifely capabilities,  he  did  not  enjoy  the  prospect  of  a 
lete-a-tete  with  her. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  disturb  you,"  began  Maria,  sitting 
down  and  getting  up  again  two  or  three  times,  after 
the  manner  of  women  who  carry  useful  articles  in 
pockets  situated  at  the  back  of  their  gowns,  "  but  I 
wanted  to  speak  to  you  privately,  so  I  came  this  morn- 
ing because  I  heard  Cecily  say  that  she  was  going  to 
her  dressmaker's." 

"  You  wanted  to  speak  to  me  about  Cecily  ?  "  asked 
Miles. 

"  Yes,  it  is  about  Cecily,"  replied  Mrs.  Bingley ; 
"  but  nothing  very  pleasant,  I  am  sorry  to  say.  I 
thought  it  my  duty  to  tell  you  that  people  are  talking 
very  disagreeably  about  your  wife  and  that  good-look- 
ing young  Bassett.  You  know  he  is  constantly  at  this 
house,  and  they  are  always  meeting  elsewhere.  In  fact 
people  say  they  seem  quite  inseparable." 

"  Oh,  people  say  ! "  echoed  Miles  angrily.  "  I 
wonder  you  take  the  trouble  to  repeat  such  idle  non- 
sense, Maria.  Cecily  finds  the  boy  useful  at  her 
parties,  and  it  isn't  her  fault  if  he  happens  to  be  in- 
vited to  the  same  houses  as  herself.  But  I  suppose 
that  is  quite  enough  to  make  all  the  envious  old 
women  talk ! " 

"That's  all  very  well,"  returned  Maria,  with  of- 
fended dignity,  "  but  the  world  doesn't  usually  talk 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  165 

without  good  reason.  It  never  talked  about  me,  for 
example,  or  accused  me  of  flirting.  However,  as  long 
as  you  are  satisfied  it  is  not  for  me  to  interfere.  All 
the  same,  I  should  advise  you  to  keep  an  eye  on  that 
young  man,  and  you  will  soon  see  whether  or  not  I 
was  justified  in  repeating  what  you  call  idle  non- 
sense." 

"  That  would  involve  watching  my  wife,"  said 
Miles  coldly,  "  which  I  certainly  should  not  condescend 
to  do." 

"  "Well,  of  course  you  must  please  yourself.  I  can 
only  tell  you  that  everybody  is  remarking  that  you 
are  an  extremely  easy-going  husband.  And  many 
people  are  surprised,  too,  that  you  should  allow  your 
wife  to  be  so  intimate  with  a  woman  of  Mrs.  March- 
mont's  stamp." 

"  "What  is  the  matter  with  Mrs.  Marchmont  ?  "  asked 
Miles  irritably. 

"  Didn't  you  know  that  she  holds  dreadfully  ad- 
vanced views?  I  have  heard  that  she  thinks  women 
ought  to  have  the  same  education  as  men,  and  that 
they  should  all  be  brought  up  to  some  profession. 
I  dare  say  she  thinks  they  ought  to  be  allowed  to 
vote  too." 

"  I  never  knew  that  she  had  any  nonsense  of  that 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

sort  in  her  head,"  said  Miles,  not  unwilling  to  make 
a  scapegoat  of  Mrs.  Marchmont.  "  She  has  always 
seemed  to  me  a  womanly  woman." 

"Ah,  that's  all  put  on,"  returned  Mrs.  Bingley, 
shaking  her  head.  "But  it  is  not  only  her  opinions 
that  are  unsound;  it's  her  conduct.  You  know  that 
Mr.  Spenser  ?  " 

"  Spenser  ?    Yes,  what  of  him  ?  " 

"He  and  Mrs.  Marchmont  are  very  intimate  indeed. 
They  go  to  theatres  and  concerts  together,  and  discuss 
books  that  most  women  would  not  like  to  confess  that 
they  had  read.  Of  course  they  pretend  that  they  are 
only  friends,  but  we  all  know  what  friendship  means 
between  a  man  and  a  woman.  I  don't  consider  her  at 
all  a  desirable  companion  for  a  young  wife." 

"  I  can't  say  I  am  anxious  that  Cecily  should  be 
inoculated  with  the  views  that  you  attribute  to  Mrs. 
Marchmont,"  said  Miles.  "  I  will  speak  to  her  about 
the  matter.  And,  Maria,  I  don't  think  you  need  make 
yourself  uncomfortable  about  the  world's  opinion  of 
Cecily.  People  are  always  ready  to  slander  a  pretty 
woman ;  but  I  have  absolute  confidence  in  my 
wife." 

"I'm  glad  to  hear  it,  I'm  sure.  I  hope  you  may 
never  find  out  that  the  world  was  right,"  replied  Mrs. 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  167 

Bingley  mournfully,  as  if  she  felt  it  to  be  more  than 
doubtful  that  her  aspiration  would  be  fulfilled. 

When  his  visitor  had  left  him  Miles  tried  to  go  on 
•with  his  work,  but  the  thread  of  his  thought  was 
broken,  and  do  what  he  would  he  could  not  get  the 
vision  of  a  handsome  youthful  face  out  of  his  mind, 
while  the  sound  of  a  passionate  tenor  voice  rang  per- 
sistently in  his  ears.  Like  most  men,  he  set  a  quite 
disproportionate  value  upon  youth  and  good  looks,  or 
rather  he  exaggerated  the  extent  of  their  influence 
upon  the  feminine  mind.  Although  he  had  pretended 
to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  Maria's  reports  of  the  gossip  that 
was  afloat  concerning  Cecily,  he  had  too  rooted  a  belief 
in  his  sister's  judgment  and  perspicuity  not  to  feel 
troubled  and  uneasy  at  the  recollection  of  her  signifi- 
cant words  and  looks. 

"  "What  are  you  going  to  do  this  afternoon  ? " 
he  inquired,  as  he  and  his  wife  sat  at  luncheon 
together. 

"Rosamund  and  I  are  going  to  tea  at  the  Chro- 
matic Club,"  replied  Cecily.  "Leonard  is  giving  a 
party,  and  he  wants  me  to  play  hostess  for  him." 

"  Who  is  Leonard  ?  "  asked  Miles  snappishly. 

"  Why,  Leonard  Bassett  of  course.  Everybody 
calls  him  Leonard." 


168  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  That  is  no  reason  why  you  should,"  retorted 
her  husband.  "I  suppose  you  mean  the  puppy  with 
the  eyeglass  who  is  always  getting  under  one's  feet  at 
your  parties." 

"  Has  he  bothered  you  ?  "  asked  Cecily.  "  I'll  give 
him  a  hint  not  to  come  so  often." 

"  That  won't  be  much  use  considering  that  we  meet 
him  wherever  we  go,"  grumbled  Miles.  "And  he 
seems  to  impose  upon  your  patience  and  good-nature  in 
a  very  unjustifiable  manner.  I  wonder  you  don't  get 
tired  of  his  eternal  flow  of  empty  chatter." 

"  I  do  very  often,  but  then  I  just  tell  him  to  hold 
his  tongue.  He  is  a  harmless,  well-meaning  little  boy, 
and  invaluable  at  afternoon  teas,  but  perhaps  he  has 
given  us  an  over-dose  of  his  society  of  late." 

She  spoke  so  naturally  that  Miles  felt  that  his,  or 
rather  the  world's  suspicions  were  manifestly  absurd. 
He  thought  it  better  to  change  the  subject,  and 
seek  another  outlet  for  the  discomfort  which  was 
oppressing  him. 

"I  have  lately  heard  reports  about  your  friend 
Mrs.  Marchmont  that  surprised  me  very  much,"  he 
remarked  after  a  pause. 

"  About  Rosamund,"  said  Cecily,  inwardly  wonder- 
ing what  could  be  the  matter  with  Miles.  Had  he 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  1G9 

stuck  fast  in  his  book,  or  could  he  have  eaten  some- 
thing that  had  disagreed  with  him? 

"Yes,  I  am  told  that  she  is  quite  an  emancipated 
woman,  that  she  holds  Tory  advanced  views." 

"  Rosamund  is  not  a  shrieking  sister,  if  that  is 
what  you  mean,"  returned  Cecily.  "  She  says  that  the 
principal  opinion  she  holds  upon  the  woman  question 
is  one  that  she  shares  with  Plato,  Sir  Thomas  More, 
and  Stuart  Mill,  namely  that  women  should  have  the 
same  training  and  the  same  opportunity  for  work  as 
men.  That  can't  be  such  a  very  new  or  foolish  opinion 
if  it  was  held  by  three  wise  dead  men." 

"  Plato,  More  and  Mill  were  all  cranks  on  some  sub- 
ject or  other,"  said  Miles  shortly. 

"  It  is  odd  though  that  they  should  all  be  cranks 
upon  the  same  subject." 

"  Pray  don't  get  into  the  habit  of  arguing,"  he  said 
irritably.  "  It's  a  most  disagreeable  trick  in  a  woman. 
I  had  no  idea  that  you  had  taken  up  any  ideas  of  this 
sort,  and  I  hope  you  will  drop  them  again  as  soon  as 
possible.  To  return  to  Mrs.  March mont ;  I  hear  that 
apart  from  her  objectionable  views  she  has  been  making 
herself  very  conspicuous  with  Spenser." 

"  They  are  great  friends,"  said  Cecily ;  "  and  I  have 
no  doubt  that  his  companionship  is  a  comfort  to  her  in 


170  A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES. 

her  unhappy  life.  But  she  is  perfectly  straight;  I 
would  vouch  for  her  honour  with  my  own." 

"  I  don't  believe  in  platonics,"  returned  Miles  con- 
temptuously. "  Altogether  Mrs.  Marchmont  seems  to 
be  a  most  unsuitable  friend  for  you,  and  I  wish  you  to 
withdraw  gradually  from  your  intimacy  with  her. 
There  need  be  no  open  rupture." 

"  Give  up  Eosamund  ! "  exclaimed  his  wife  aghast. 
"  Oh,  but  I  couldn't  do  that." 

"  Not  when  I  desire  it  ?  " 

"  I  don't  want  to  do  anything  against  your  wishes," 
said  Cecily ;  "  but  I  am  sure  that  you  are  mistaken 
about  Kosamund  Marchmont.  She  is  a  good  woman, 
and  it  is  an  honour  to  be  her  friend." 

"  That  is  a  point  upon  which  we  differ,"  said  Miles 
coldly.  "And  I  must  ask  you  to  be  guided  by  my 
judgment,  which  is,  at  least,  more  experienced  than 
your  own.  We  need  not  discuss  the  question  further. 
You  know  my  wishes,  and  that  ought  to  be  enough  for 
you." 

Cecily  hesitated.  It  was  the  first  time  that  she  had 
come  into  serious  conflict  with  her  husband's  will,  since 
in  no  previous  discussion  between  them  had  any  ques- 
tion of  principle  been  involved,  and  she  was  always 
ready  to  give  up  her  personal  wishes  to  his.  But  a  true 


A  STUDY   IX  PREJUDICES. 

friendship  was  too  precious  a  thing  to  be  thrown  lightly 
away,  and  besides,  she  had  an  instinctive  feeling  that  to 
one  in  Mrs.  Marchmont's  position  the  confidence  and 
affection  of  another  woman  might  be  a  help  in  time  of 
need. 

"  I  have  no  doubt  you  think  you  are  acting  for  the 
best,"  she  said  at  length ;  "  but  that  is  because  you  do 
not  know  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  I  could 
not  be  happy  in  an  intimacy  that  you  disapproved  of, 
and  yet  I  could  not  drop  an  old  friend  without  giving 
her  any  reason.  I  will  explain  to  Rosamund  that  you 
have  been  misinformed  about  her,  and  that  conse- 
quently you  have  desired  me  to  see  less  of  her  for  the 
present.  But  I  shall  tell  her  that  I  shall  always  remain 
unchanged  to  her  in  heart,  and  that  I  hope  some  day 
you  will  find  out  that  you  were  mistaken,  and  then  we 
can  be  friends  openly  as  before." 

"  You  may  tell  her  what  you  please  so  long  as  you 
do  as  I  wish,"  said  Miles  gruffly.  "  But  I  should  have 
thought  it  would  have  been  less  embarrassing  to  have 
gradually  dropped  her  without  any  scenes  or  explana- 
tions." 

"  It  would  be  more  embarrassing  to  me  to  be  thought 
a  faithless  friend,"  returned  Cecily  with  unconscious 
sarcasm. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

CECILY  felt  but  little  in  the  mood  for  her  tea-party 
after  the  just  recorded  conversation  with  her  husband, 
and  the  entertainment,  in  spite  of  the  united  efforts  of 
Mr.  Bassett  and  his  friends  to  make  it  go  off  well, 
struck  her  as  a  dismal  failure. 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  asked  Mrs.  March- 
mont,  as  they  drove  home  together.  "  You  look  as  if 
you  had  a  burden  on  your  mind,  and  would  be  the  bet- 
ter for  sharing  it." 

"  Yes,  I  am  rather  bothered  just  now,"  replied  Cec- 
ily, feeling  that  she  had  better  plunge  at  once  into  her 
disagreeable  task.  "  Some  wretched  mischief-maker 
has  been  to  Miles  and  filled  his  mind  with  nonsense 
about  you  ;  told  him  that  you  held  unsound  views  upon 
the  woman  question,  and  that  you — well,  that  you  saw 
too  much  of  Mr.  Spenser." 

"  And  of  course  he  believed  it  all,"  said  Rosamund. 

178 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  173 

"  Men  always  believe  the  worst  of  women.  Does  he 
want  to  put  a  stop  to  our  friendship  ?  " 

"  He  wants  us  to  be  less  intimate.  Of  course  it  is 
nothing  but  a  stupid  misunderstanding,  and  he  will 
probably  come  round  in  time,  but  till  then " 

"  Till  then  we  are  only  to  have  a  bowing  acquaint- 
ance, I  suppose.  Or  perhaps  we  may  be  allowed  to  ex- 
change remarks  about  the  weather ;  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  hold  unsound  views  on  the  weather  question, 
wouldn't  it?  Well,  I'm  glad  you  had  the  courage  to 
tell  me,  Cecily.  I  should  not  have  liked  to  be  a  bone 
of  contention  between  you  and  your  husband,  and  it 
would  have  hurt  me  very  much  if  you  had  cooled  off 
without  giving  any  reason." 

"  Yes,  I  thought  you  would  feel  like  that,"  said 
Cecily.  "  That  is  the  best  of  having  to  do  with  a  large- 
minded  woman.  And  we  can  still  be  friends  at  heart, 
can't  we?  You  won't  think  me  faithless  or  ungrate- 
ful?" 

"  No,  I  know  you  too  well  for  that,"  replied  the 
elder  woman.  "  You  mustn't  allow  the  matter  to 
cause  you  any  distress.  As  long  as  your  husband  is 
good  to  you  and  makes  you  happy,  that  is  all  that 
really  signifies.  The  gain  or  the  loss  of  a  friend  is  but 
a  trifle  in  comparison." 


174  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  Miles  is  the  best  husband  in  the  whole  world," 
observed  Cecily  with  conviction.  "  But  I  do  wish  he 
hadn't  a  sister  Maria.  I  believe  that  she  is  at  the  bot- 
tom of  all  the  mischief.  What  is  it  about  Maria  that 
makes  men  like  Miles  believe  so  implicitly  in  her  prac- 
tical judgment  and  good  sense.  She  seems  to  me  a 
hopeless  failure  in  every  walk  of  life,  even  as  a  Haus- 
frau.  She  spoils  her  children,  is  always  changing  her 
servants,  and  never  gives  her  husband  anything  fit  to 
eat." 

"  That  is  easily  explained.  Mrs.  Bingley  has  the 
one  thing  needful  in  masculine  eyes — stupidity.  When 
a  woman  is  entirely  lacking  in  mind  and  imagination 
the  void  is  supposed — by  men — to  be  filled  up  with  all 
the  housewifely  and  maternal  virtues.  I  believe  the 
fallacy  is  partly  the  outcome  of  the  masculine  inability 
to  distinguish  between  dulness  and  ignorance,  or  be- 
tween learning  and  intelligence.  Men  never  seem  to 
realise  that  a  stupid  woman  may  acquire  the  knowledge 
of  a  sixth-form  boy,  while  a  clever  woman  may  be  un- 
able to  write  a  letter  without  a  dictionary  beside  her. 
They  can't  understand  that  an  intelligent  woman, 
whether  she  knows  much  or  little,  has  the  faculty  of 
doing  things  well  and  adapting  herself  to  circum- 
stances, while  a  brainless  woman  is  incapable  of  doing 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  175 

anything  well,  from  the  bringing  up  of  her  children  to 
the  keeping  down  of  her  bills,  even  though  she  thinks 
and  talks  of  nothing  else." 

"  Like  Maria,"  said  Cecily  with  a  sigh.  "  I  wish 
Miles  could  be  persuaded  to  see  Maria  in  her  true 
light." 

"  I  am  afraid  he  is  not  likely  to  do  that.  He  prob- 
ably once  knew  a  clever  woman  who  did  not  choose  to 
give  her  mind  to  the  details  of  domestic  management, 
and  with  that  power  of  generalising  which,  as  George 
Eliot  says,  gives  man  so  great  a  superiority  in  mistake 
over  the  dumb  animals,  he  decided  that  all  clever 
women  were  bad  house- wives." 

"  But  he  married  me,  and  I  am  not  really  stupid," 
put  in  Cecily  naively. 

"  No,  but  you  are  so  pretty  and  well-dressed  that  no 
man  would  ever  suspect  you  of  possessing  anything  so 
objectionable  as  brains.  When  Mr.  Dormer  fell  in 
love  with  you  he  probably  thought  you  far  less  intelli- 
gent than  you  really  are,  and  the  fact  that  you  have 
turned  out  such  a  successful  little  house-keeper  must 
thoroughly  have  confirmed  him  in  his  low  opinion  of 
your  intellectual  powers." 

"  I  think  you  are  exaggerating  a  little.     Men  are 

not  all  so  prejudiced  and  narrow-minded." 
12 


176  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"No,  not  all,  but  the  vast  majority  are.  I  speak 
of  the  things  that  I  know,  and  testify  to  that  which  I 
have  read  in  novels  and  heard  at  theatres.  You  have 
been  to  the  plays  that  profess  to  deal  with  the  woman 
question,  and  you  must  have  noticed  that  the  senti- 
ments which  call  forth  the  most  frantic  applause  from 
the  masculine  part  of  the  audience  are  to  the  effect 
that  a  woman  should  be  a  woman  and  nothing  more, 
or  a  wife  and  mother  and  very  little  else.  In  short,  the 
ideal  woman  of  the  '  old  man  '  appears  to  be  a  female 
animal  of  the  human  species  with  an  instinct  instead 
of  a  mind,  and  passions  in  place  of  principles.  Her 
sympathies  and  interests  are  strictly  limited  to  her  own 
home,  and  even  there  she  proves  a  failure.  She  is 
jealous  of  her  husband's  work,  incapable  of  entering 
into  his  pursuits,  and  has  not  sufficient  sense  to  man- 
age her  household,  nor  sufficient  intellect  to  influence 
her  children.  A  combination  of  the  doll- wife  and 
cow-mother  is  the  most  popular  heroine  of  masculine 
fiction  and  drama." 

Although  Miles  had  protested  to  his  sister  that  he 
was  not  jealous,  and  had  assured  her  that  he  should  not 
condescend  to  watch  his  wife,  he  found  it  impossible, 
now  that  the  seed  of  doubt  had  once  been  sown  in  his 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  177 

mind,  to  adhere  to  his  resolution.  Involuntarily,  his 
eyes  and  ears  were  ever  on  the  alert  for  meaning  words 
or  tender  looks  that  might  be  exchanged  between  Cecily 
and  Leonard  Bassett.  Little  marks  of  attention,  pass- 
ing asides,  trifling  compliments,  which  formerly  he 
would  have  regarded  as  the  small  change  of  social 
intercourse,  now  seemed  magnified  into  gross  imperti- 
nence on  the  part  of  the  young  man,  or  shameless 
coquetry  on  the  part  of  his  wife.  Moreover,  he  became 
uncomfortably  conscious  of  the  regularity  with  which 
they  met  the  tenor  at  their  friends'  houses,  and  the 
curious  coincidence  that  always  placed  him  next  Cecily 
at  the  dinner-table. 

It  was  true  that  Leonard  came  less  often  to  Camden 
Gardens  than  formerly,  for  Cecily,  mindful  of  her 
husband's  apparent  irritation  against  the  youth,  had 
frankly  told  him  that  he  wasted  too  much  of  his  time 
at  her  tea-parties,  and  ordered  him  not  to  come  to  the 
house  more  than  once  a  fortnight.  Leonard,  far  from 
being  offended  by  this  candour,  was  highly  flattered  by 
a  command  which  he  believed  to  be  inspired  by  marital 
jealousy,  for  it  would  never  have  occurred  to  him  that 
his  attentions  could  be  unwelcome  to  any  woman.  The 
pleasure  that  he  took  in  Mrs.  Dormer's  society  was 
immensely  enhanced  by  the  piquant  consciousness 


178  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

that  there  was  just  a  souppon  of  danger  in  their  present 
relations.  He  allowed  himself  to  look  at  her  with 
obtrusive  sympathy,  broke  off  in  the  midst  of  harmless 
speeches  when  he  saw  that  her  husband  was  within 
hearing,  and  spoke  of  her  to  his  men  friends,  as  "  that 
poor  little  Mrs.  Dormer." 

Cecily,  for  her  part,  found  it  impossible  to  take  the 
boy  seriously,  but  contented  herself  with  snubbing  his 
pretty  speeches,  laughing  at  his  sentiment,  and  anx- 
iously inquiring  if  he  didn't  feel  well  when  he  gazed  at 
her  with  (as  he  imagined)  his  whole  soul  in  his  eyes. 
Unfortunately,  Leonard's  mental  skin  was  far  too 
thickly  padded  with  vanity  to  allow  of  his  being  easily 
discouraged,  and  Miles,  seeing  lover-like  glances,  and 
hearing  broken  snatches  of  low-toned  conversation, 
began  to  feel  a  terrible  conviction  that  Maria's  warning 
had  been  but  one  more  proof  of  her  natural  astuteness. 

Matters  came  to  a  crisis  one  evening  at  a  party  at 
the  house  of  a  famous  Academician. 

A  series  of  tableaux  vivants  had  been  arranged, 
illustrative  of  scenes  from  Browning's  poems,  and  in 
these  Cecily  had  been  asked  to  take  part.  The  most 
successful  of  all  the  pictures  was  a  representation  of 
the  poem,  "  A  Toccata  of  Galuppi's."  In  the  character 
of  the  Venetian  beauty  with  "  cheeks  so  round  and  lips 


A  STCDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  17-9 

BO  red,"  Mrs.  Dormer,  attired  in  many-hued  brocade 
and  seated  in  a  high-backed  carved  chair,  appeared  to 
be  dividing  her  attention  between  the  brave  music  of 
the  old  maestro  and  the  soft  nothings  that  her  knight, 
Leonard  Bassett,  was  whispering  in  her  ear.  At  an  old 
clavichord,  his  long  fingers  resting  on  the  keys,  sat  a 
picturesque  white-haired  figure,  whose  profile  was  rec- 
ognised by  the  audience  as  that  of  a  celebrated 
pianist-composer. 

This  tableau  roused  so  much  enthusiasm  that  the 
curtain  had  to  be  raised  and  lowered  half  a  dozen  times 
before  the  actors  could  be  released. 

Miles,  standing  in  the  background  of  the  darkened 
room,  occupied  with  his  own  gloomy  thoughts,  was 
startled  to  hear  his  wife's  name  lightly  uttered  by  a 
smooth-faced,  flat-headed  boy,  who  stood  a  little  in 
front  of  him. 

"  Pretty  woman  Mrs.  Dormer,"  observed  the  youth 
to  his  neighbour  in  tones  of  condescending  approval. 

"Yes,"  said  the  other,  a  prematurely  bald  young 
man,  with  an  upper  lip  that  curled  back  when  he 
spoke,  and  revealed  a  row  of  yellow  teeth.  "  I  should 
think  her  husband  finds  her  a  handful  though." 

"  Ah,"  said  the  first  speaker,  "  she  has  been  going 
the  pace  with  that  ass  Bassett." 


180  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  Yes,  that's  an  old  affair ;  it  dates  from  before  her 
marriage.  I  remember  seeing  her  lunching  alone  with 
Basse tt  at  a  restaurant  in  the  Strand  when  she  was  Miss 
Tregarthen.  They  were  at  the  Gaiety  together  after- 
wards. Apparently  she  still  has  a,  penchant  for  her  old 
flame.  But  what  can  you  expect?  A  woman  with  a 
mouth  like  that  would  never  be  content  with  the 
kisses  of  one  man." 

Miles  moved  hastily  out  of  earshot  lest  he  should 
be  unable  to  control  the  impulse  to  strike  the  speaker 
to  the  ground,  a  proceeding  which  would  only  give 
publicity  to  the  scandal  that  was  already  busy  with  his 
wife's  name.  His  heart  seemed  turned  to  ice,  though 
his  brain  was  on  fire  as  he  made  his  way  slowly  through 
the  crowded  room  to  the  spot  where  Cecily,  still  in  her 
Venetian  dress,  was  standing  in  the  middle  of  a  little 
group  of  admirers.  Leonard  Bassett  was  not  among 
them,  for,  thrown  a  little  off  his  balance  by  success 
combined  with  champagne,  he  had  forgotten  his  usual 
discretion,  aud  had  offended  Mrs.  Dormer  by  expres- 
sions of  too  open  admiration.  She  had  told  him  that 
he  was  an  ill-behaved  boy,  and  ordered  him  not  to 
speak  to  her  again  until  she  gave  him  permission. 
Leonard  was  so  much  upset  at  this  rebuke  that  he  had 
to  go  and  have  some  more  champagne,  after  which  he 


A  STUDY   IN   PREJUDICES.  181 

felt  that  he  should  never  know  a  happy  moment  until  he 
had  made  his  peace  with  Mrs.  Dormer.  But  how  was 
this  to  be  done  when  she  had  forbidden  him  to  speak 
to  her  ?  Like  a  flash  of  inspiration  came  the  idea  that 
he  might  write  to  her,  and  that  a  tiny  pencilled  note 
might  be  slipped  into  her  hand  when  he  bade  her  good- 
night. She  could  not  refuse  to  give  him  her  hand, 
especially  as  other  people  would  be  present,  and  he 
would  obey  the  letter  of  her  command  by  remaining 
absolutely  dumb. 

Tearing  a  leaf  out  of  his  note-book  he  hastily 
scribbled  a  petition  that  Mrs.  Dormer  would  take  pity 
on  her  slave,  and  by  walking  in  the  Park  between 
twelve  and  one  next  morning,  give  him  an  opportunity 
of  expressing  his  penitence  for  having  unintentionally 
offended  her.  Scarcely  had  he  finished  than  he  saw 
Cecily  and  her  husband  moving  towards  the  door. 
Leonard  followed  them  into  the  entrance-hall,  and 
taking  Mrs.  Dormer's  cloak  from  the  hands  of  a  serv- 
ant, silently  placed  it  on  its  owner's  shoulders.  Cecily 
dared  not  show  any  resentment  against  the  offending 
youth  for  fear  of  exciting  her  husband's  suspicions,  nor 
could  she  withhold  her  hand  at  parting.  A  glow  of 
anger  rose  to  her  cheek,  however,  as  she  felt  a  piece  of 
paper  pressed  against  her  palm.  Surrounded  as  they 


182  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

were,  it  was  impossible  for  her  to  drop  the  note,  but  as 
her  hand  closed  upon  it,  she  turned  a  glance  of  mingled 
scorn  and  indignation  upon  her  tactless  admirer.  Her 
hope  that  her  husband  had  not  observed  the  little 
episode  was  quickly  dispelled,  for  no  sooner  were  they 
seated  in  the  brougham  than  Miles  grasped  her  wrist, 
and  said  in  a  tone  that  she  had  never  heard  from  him 
before : 

"  Give  me  that  note." 

Cecily  instantly  unclosed  her  hand  and  delivered  up 
the  paper. 

"  I  don't  know  what  is  in  it,"  she  said,  trying  to 
keep  a  quaver  out  of  her  voice.  "  Some  nonsense  from 
that  impertinent  boy,  I  suppose." 

There  was  no  reply,  and  the  pair  drove  home  in  a 
silence  which  Cecily  felt  to  be  far  worse  than  angry 
speech.  On  entering  the  house,  Miles  went  to  the 
study,  followed  by  his  wife,  unfolded  and  read  the  note, 
and  then  threw  it  into  the  fire. 

"Won't  you  tell  me  what  it  was  about?"  asked 
Cecily,  to  whom  the  silence  was  becoming  intoler- 
able. 

"  It  contained  a  request  from  Mr.  Bassett  that  you 
would  meet  him  at  a  certain  time,  in  a  certain  place, 
for  a  certain  purpose,"  replied  Miles,  with  crushing 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  133 

courtesy.  "  A  request  that  I  have  put  it  out  of  your 
power  to  grant." 

"Oh,  Miles,  how  can  you  speak  to  me  and  look  at 
me  like  that?"  exclaimed  Cecily.  "As  if  I  should 
have  been  likely  to  grant  it !  Though  I  am  certain  he 
meant  no  harm,  and  he  would  never  have  had  the 
impudence  to  write  me  that  note  if  he  had  been  quite — 
quite  himself  to-night." 

"He  is  fortunate  in  having  you  for  his  cham- 
pion," returned  her  husband,  with  an  exasperating 
bow. 

"  Oh,  what  can  I  say  ? "  cried  poor  Cecily  in 
despair.  "  Indeed,  I  have  given  him  no  encourage- 
ment beyond  what  you  know  of.  Till  to-night  no 
word  has  ever  passed  between  us  that  I  should 
have  been  ashamed  for  you  and  all  the  world  to 
hear." 

"  Possibly,"  retorted  Miles.  "  Some  people  are  de- 
ficient in  a  sense  of  shame." 

Cecily  looked  at  him  helplessly.  It  seemed  to  her 
as  if  her  husband  had  suddenly  been  transformed  into 
a  cynical,  sneering  stranger,  who  suspected  her  of  some 
unknown  crime,  and  judged  her  without  listening  to 
her  defence.  Naturally  she  knew  nothing  of  the 
various  causes  that  had  contributed  to  feed  the  flame  of 


184  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

Miles's  wrath,  and  to  heighten  his  distrust  of  her 
relations,  past  and  present,  with  Leonard  Bassett. 

"It  is  difficult,"  went  on  Miles,  in  the  same  cold,  ju- 
dicial tones,  "  to  reconcile  your  assertion  that  you  have 
never  encouraged  Mr.  Bassett,  with  the  fact  that  he  has 
dared  to  address  you  in  terms  which  no  man,  not  even  a 
society  tenor,  would  venture  to  use  to  a  woman  from 
whom  he  had  received  no  encouragement.  Possibly, 
however,  he  may  have  been  emboldened  by  reminis- 
cences of  his  former  acquaintance  with  you — of  the  days 
of  Strand  luncheons  and  Gaiety  burlesques,  for  ex- 
ample." 

A  sudden  light  broke  in  upon  Cecily's  bewildered 
mind. 

"Oh,  I  meant  that  I  had  never  encouraged  him 
since  I  was  married  ? "  she  said,  with  an  air  of  relief. 
"  I  know  I  did  flirt  with  him  a  long  time  ago,  when  I 
was  a  girl.  But  I  only  once  lunched  and  went  to 
the  Gaiety  with  him,  and  that  was  quite  an  acci- 
dent." 

"  I  never  knew  until  to-night  that  my  wife  was  a 
professed  flirt." 

"  I  never  flirted  after  I  knew  that  you  loved  me, 
Miles,  and  I  am  sorry  I  did  before ;  but  most  of  the 
girls  I  knew  did  the  same,  and  I  had  no  one  to  tell  me 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  185 

that  there  was  any  harm  in  it.  Miles,"  she  continued, 
after  waiting  for  him  to  speak,  "  you  know  the  whole 
truth  now.  Won't  you  forgive  me,  and  love  me  as  you 
did  before  ?  I  always  told  you  that  I  wasn't  good 
enough  for  you,  only  you  wouldn't  believe  it.  But  if 
you  will  forgive  me  for  the  past  I  will  try  to  be  all  that 
you  could  desire  in  the  future." 

"  I  forgive  you,"  said  Miles  slowly ;  "  but  I  am 
afraid  it  will  be  long  before  I  can  forget  the  occurrences 
of  this  evening.  I  must  confess  to  feeling  much 
grieved  and  disappointed." 

"  I  always  knew  that  you  would  be  disappointed  in 
me  when  you  found  me  out.  Please  make  up  your 
mind,  once  and  for  all,  that  I  am  a  very  unsatisfactory 
person,  but  that  with  your  help  I  may  be  more  worthy 
of  your  trust  and  affection  some  day." 

She  went  closer  to  him,  and  held  up  her  face  to  his. 
Miles  was  on  the  point  of  yielding  altogether  when  his 
eye  fell  on  the  soft  full  curves  of  the  lips  that  were 
so  temptingly  near  his  own.  The  stranger's  words, 
"  A  woman  with  a  mouth  like  that  will  never  be  satis- 
fied with  the  kisses  of  one  man,"  came  back  to  his 
mind,  and  he  jerked  away  his  head  with  a  little  gesture 
of  repulsion.  His  ungracious  action  worked  an  in- 
stantaneous transformation  in  his  wife.  Her  chin 


186  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

went  up,  and  a  look  of  scorn  flashed  into  her  face  as 
she  said  : 

"You  say  you  forgive  me,  but  you  don't  seem  to 
know  what  forgiveness  means." 

Then  without  another  word,  she  turned  and  left 
him. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  next  morning  Miles  was  careful  to  avoid  all 
reference  to  the  painful  scene  that  had  taken  place  the 
night  before.  He  had  forgiven  his  wife  with  his  lips 
though  not  with  his  heart,  and  it  was  his  nature  to 
brood  over  an  injury  in  silence,  to  allow  a  wound  to 
rankle  and  fester,  rather  than  to  let  the  poison  escape 
in  openly-expressed  reproaches,  while  it  would  have  been 
impossible  for  him  to  put  the  matter  out  of  his  mind 
altogether.  With  true  masculine  modesty,  he  had 
always  determined  that  when  it  pleased  him  to  marry 
his  wife  should  be  a  wingless  angel,  pure  in  thought  as 
in  deed,  ignorant  as  she  was  innocent  of  evil.  Cecily 
had  attracted  him  by  her  gentle,  modest  demeanour  far 
more  strongly  than  by  her  beauty,  and  when  he  won 
her  he  had  congratulated  himself  upon  having  secured 
a  pearl  of  great  price.  But  now  his  domestic  treasure 
turned  out  to  be,  apart  from  her  sweetness  and  charm, 
very  much  like  other  people's  treasures,  a  mere  every- 

187 


188  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

day  young  woman  who  had  romped  and  flirted,  and 
said  and  done  foolish  things  without  any  prophetic  con- 
sciousness of  the  high  honour  that  fate  held  in  store  for 
her.  It  was  true  that  even  now,  in  face  of  the  disillu- 
sionment that  he  had  just  undergone,  he  did  not  really 
doubt  Cecily's  devotion  to  himself,  but  he  wondered 
gloomily  how  long  a  man  could  depend  upon  the  con- 
stancy of  an  avowed  coquette. 

His  jealousy  was  now  thoroughly  alight,  and  he 
watched  his  wife's  behaviour  to  every  man  she  met 
with  eyes  that  magnified  the  sweetness,  of  each  smile, 
exaggerated  the  meaning  of  each  look,  and  suspected 
surreptitious  notes  in  every  hand-clasp.  Although  he 
never  openly  accused  her  of  encouraging  the  attentions 
of  the  men  with  whom  she  came  in  contact,  his  irrita- 
tion and  uneasiness  showed  themselves  either  in  fits  of 
sulky  taciturnity,  or  else  in  contemptuous  sarcasms  and 
cutting  remarks  which  never  failed  to  leave  their  sting 
in  Cecily's  heart.  Social  intercourse  to  her,  no  less 
•  than  to  him,  began  to  assume  the  form  of  a  daily 
martyrdom,  and  dinner-parties  and  dances  seemed  the 
most  exquisite  form  of  torture  that  human  ingenuity 
could  devise.  She  bore  her  husband's  ironical  speeches 
and  reproachful  silence  meekly,  and  seldom  attempted 
any  self-defence,  for  she  honestly  believed  that  he  was 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  189 


justified  in  his  displeasure,  and  thought  it  only  natural 
that  so  admirable  a  man  should  be  bitterly  disap- 
pointed when  he  discovered  what  a  faulty  imperfect 
creature  he  had  taken  to  wife.  Yet  just  at  that  period 
his  harshness  was  very  hard  to  bear,  for  Cecily,  who 
all  her  life  had  enjoyed  robust  health  and  the  buoyant 
spirits  that  are  its  natural  complement,  was  suffering 
from  strange  feelings  of  weakness  and  depression, 
which,  combined  with  the  heart-ache  caused  by  her 
husband's  behaviour,  compelled  her  to  realise  for  the 
first  time  that  life  was  not  necessarily  a  pleasant  pil- 
grimage through  a  summer  land,  where  love  and  hap- 
piness sprang  up  like  wild  flowers  about  the  traveller's 
path.  Never  before  had  she  been  so  keenly  in  need  of 
tenderness  and  affection,  and  never  before  had  she 
felt  so  lonely  and  forlorn.  With  Madge  in  India,  her 
friendship  with  Mrs.  Marchmont  forbidden,  and  her 
husband  estranged,  whom  had  she  to  turn  to  ?  It  was 
true  that  there  were  times  when  Miles  forgot  his  jeal- 
ousy and  suspicions,  when  for  a  day  or  an  hour  he 
would  be  his  old  self  again,  kind  and  loving  as  ever ; 
but  even  then  things  were  no  longer  quite  the  same, 
for  he  and  she  had  wandered  out  of  Eden,  and  the 
curse  fell  heaviest  on  the  woman's  head. 

The  change  that  had  taken  place  in  Mrs.  Dormer's 


190  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

looks  and  spirits,  her  subdued  demeanour  and  anxious 
eyes,  did  not  escape  the  notice  of  her  friends.  At  a 
musical  "  At  Home "  two  or  three  weeks  after  the 
night  of  the  tableaux  vivants,  Mrs.  Marchmont  came 
up  to  her,  remarking,  as  she  perceived  Cecily's  look  of 
alarm : 

"  Don't  be  frightened.  I  have  just  asked  your 
husband  if  I  may  talk  to  you,  and  he  has  given  his 
august  permission." 

"  I  am  very  glad,"  said  Cecily.  "  It  seems  a  long 
time  since  I  have  seen  anything  of  you." 

"  And  you  don't  look  as  if  you  had  been  getting 
on  very  well  without  me,"  observed  Mrs.  Marchmont. 
"  Is  anything  wrong  ?  You  are  not  a  bit  like  yourself 
to-night." 

"  I  have  rather  a  headache,"  returned  Cecily.  "  But 
I  think  I  ought  to  ask  what  is  wrong  with  you.  I 
noticed  that  you  were  out  of  spirits  directly  you  came 
into  the  room." 

"  Oh,  something  is  always  more  or  less  wrong  with 
me.  And  that  reminds  me,  do  you  know  that  one  of 
your  husband's  objections  to  our  friendship  has  been 
removed  ?  " 

"  No,  which  is  it  ?  Have  you  been  getting  up  a 
society  for  the  promotion  of  feminine  ignorance  ?  " 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES. 

"  No,  but  I  have  lost  what  he  would  consider  an  un- 
desirable friend." 

"  Mr.  Spenser,"  said  Cecily  with  a  glance  of  sym- 
pathy. "  I  am  so  sorry.  How  came  that  about  ?  " 

"  People  have  been  telling  him  for  years  that  he 
ought  to  marry  because  he  has  an  old  family  estate, 
and  in  this  country  the  heir  is  provided  for  the 
property,  not  the  property  for  the  heir.  He  has  lately 
been  introduced  to  a  pretty,  well-brought-up  and 
properly  inane  young  lady  of  nineteen,  who  is  sup- 
posed to  be  willing  to  marry  him  if  he  asks  her." 

"  And  he  ?  "  inquired  Cecily. 

"  He  is  beginning  to  find  friendship  a  little  unsat- 
isfying, and  is  decidedly  flattered  at  the  notion  of 
being  loved  by  a  rosy-cheeked  girl  of  half  his  age. 
He  consulted  me  upon  the  matter,  and  I  advised  him 
to  marry  the  girl,  because  I  saw  that  his  own  mind  was 
practically  made  up.  Of  course  he  said  that  he  hoped 
our  friendship  would  continue  just  the  same,  and 
equally  of  course  I  determined  that  it  should  come  to 
an  end  at  once.  He  won't  miss  me  at  first ;  he  will  bo 
quite  happy  with  his  young  wife  for  a  few  months,  or 
possibly  a  year.  Afterwards,  when  the  novelty  of  mar- 
ried life  has  worn  off,  and  he  no  longer  knows  whether 

his  companion  is  pretty  or  plain,  he  will  suddenly  dis- 
13 


192  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

cover  that  there  is  nothing  in  her.  Then  he  will  be- 
gin to  suffer,  for  he  is  even  more  dependent  than 
most  men  upon  a  woman's  sympathy  and  understand- 
ing." 

"  Then  he  will  want  to  come  back  to  you." 

"Very  likely;  but  I  hope  I  shall  never  do  any- 
thing to  cause  another  woman  unhappiness.  The 
poor  little  wife  will  have  plenty  to  put  up  with  in 
any  case,  for  her  husband  will  want  something  of  her 
that  she  cannot  give  him.  Yet  he  will  have  no  one 
to  blame  but  himself.  A  man  knows  perfectly  well 
that  pink  cheeks,  bright  eyes,  and  round  arms  are  not 
lasting  charms,  and  if  he  marries  a  girl  for  her  physi- 
cal attractions  only,  he  has  no  right  to  complain  when 
her  freshness  fades,  as  if  he  were  a  child  whose  wax 
doll  had  melted  by  the  fire.  A  marriage  of  that  sort 
could  only  be  successful  if  it  were  a  septennial  arrange- 
ment, like  our  parliament,  with  the  possibility  of  a  dis- 
solution at  any  moment." 

"But  .you?"  put  in  Cecily,  remembering  her 
friend's  words,  "  When  the  man  becomes  platonic 
the  woman  grows  passionate."  "  You  will  miss  him 
dreadfully." 

"  Yes,  there  will  be  rather  a  blank  in  my  life  just 
at  first.  I  shall  forget  that  I  am  a  reasoning  being 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  193 

when  I  haven't  him  to  talk  to.  But  I  have  a  large 
subscription  at  Mudie's,  and  a  slum  in  Whitechapel, 
and  I  am  learning  to  play  the  zither,  and — oh,  iu 
these  days  a  woman  has  no  time  to  break  her  heart. 
Besides,  we  are  going  abroad  very  soon.  My  hus- 
band's health  is  supposed  to  require  the  air  of  Monte 
Carlo." 

"  Oh,  I  am  sorry  you  are  going  away,"  said 
Cecily  regretfully.  "  Even  if  I  may  not  see  very 
much  of  you,  it  is  a  comfort  to  know  that  you  are 
within  reach,  and  to  be  able  to  exchange  a  word  with 
you  now  and  then." 

Mrs.  Marchmont  was  not  the  only  person  who 
noticed  the  difference  in  Mrs.  Dormer's  spirits.  Jasper 
Fleming  was  still  a  regular  visitor  at  the  house  in  Cam- 
den  Gardens,  and  though  he  had  never  been  received 
with  more  than  common  friendliness  by  Cecily,  he 
had  not  quite  renounced  the  hope  that  some  day  he 
might  have  the  opportunity  of  doing  her  a  service,  even 
if  it  were  nothing  more  than  a  proffer  of  sympathy 
or  consolation  in  an  any  trouble  that  might  come 
upon  her.  He  was  not  a  villain  by  nature,  and  he  had 
no  definite  intention  in  his  mind,  no  deliberate  plot 
against  the  virtue  of  the  woman  he  loved.  But  his 
feeling  for  her  had  been  strengthened  and  deepened  by 


194  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

the  knowledge  that  she  was  forbidden  fruit,  and  his 
visits  to  Camden  Gardens  were  now  the  chief  events  of 
his  existence,  the  keenest  pleasure  and  excitement  that 
remained  to  him.  "When  it  became  evident  that  Cecily 
was  not  so  happy  as  formerly,  when  her  eyes  began  to 
look  wistful  and  her  mouth  had  taken  a  pathetic 
droop,  he"  assured  himself  that  it  was  his  duty  to  watch 
over  her  in  order  that  he  might  be  able  to  render  her 
the  help  and  protection  of  a  true  friend  should  she 
ever  be  in  need  of  one.  As  for  his  reward,  that  was  a 
secondary  matter.  If  he  served  his  lady  with  the  faith- 
fulness and  devotion  of  a  minnesinger  of  old,  he  felt 
that  he  might  safely  leave  the  recompense  to  her  tender 
heart  and  generous  nature. 

His  opportunity  came  sooner  than  he  expected. 
The  electricity  of  the  Dormers'  domestic  atmosphere 
culminated  one  day  in  a  storm  of  unusual  magnitude. 
Miles,  while  searching  for  a  reference  among  the  vol- 
umes of  poetry  in  Cecily's  room,  chanced  to  take  up  a 
gaily-bound  book  entitled  "  The  Passions  of  an  Hour," 
by  John  William  Stubbs.  After  a  contemptuous  glance 
at  its  contents,  he  was  about  to  replace  the  volume 
when  his  eye  was  caught  by  some  writing  on  the  fly- 
leaf. "  With  fondest  love  from  the  author.  May  3rd, 
189-,"  he  read,  or  rather  the  words  seemed  to  burn 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  195 

themselves  upon  his  brain.  On  the  3rd  of  May,  he 
and  Cecily  had  been  engaged  just  a  fortnight,  and 
even  then  she  must  have  had  a  second  string  to  her 
bow,  a  poetical  Stubbs  who  dared  to  regard  her  with 
fondest  love.  His  head  turned  dizzy  at  the  thought, 
and  his  jealous  heart  ached  with  an  almost  intolerable 
pain,  yet  he  could  not  summon  up  courage  to  carry  his 
discovery  to  his  wife,  and  openly  accuse  her  of  treach- 
ery. He  preferred  to  brood  over  his  supposed  wrong, 
and  covertly  revenge  himself  by  cold  looks  and  sneer- 
ing words. 

For  three  miserable  days  he  tortured  his  wife  by  his 
unaccountable  moroseuess,  but  on  the  fourth  day  a  sar- 
castic allusion  to  the  poet  Stubbs  gave  Cecily  the  clue 
to  the  cause  of  his  late  displeasure. 

"  The  poet  Stubbs !  "  she  exclaimed,  her  sad  little 
face  suddenly  brightening.  "  Oh,  have  you  been  look- 
ing at  her  absurd  little  book  ?  " 

"Her?"  returned  Miles  inquiringly. 

"  Yes.  John  "William  Stubbs  is  the  pseudonym  of 
an  old  school-fellow  of  mine,  Milly  Dasent.  She  is  a 
wild  little  Irish  girl  in  real  life,  but  dreadfully  morbid 
in  her  poetry." 

"  How  is  it  that  I  have  never  heard  of  her  before?  " 
he  asked  suspiciously. 


196  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  Because  she  lives  in  the  wilds  of  Tipperary,  and  we 
don't  correspond  regularly.  We  were  never  really  great 
friends,  but  she  has  a  way  of  bestowing  her  fondest  love 
upon  the  merest  acquaintances." 

This  explanation  sounded  plausible  enough,  yet 
Miles  was  not  appeased.  He  was  angry  with  himself 
for  having  wasted  so  much  anguish  over  a  mere  fancy, 
angry  with  his  wife  for  having  unintentionally  led  him 
into  such  an  absurd  mistake,  and  more  angry  still  with 
the  poet  Stubbs  for  her  ridiculous  pseudonym.  He  felt 
sure  that  Cecily  must  have  guessed  the  suspicion  that 
had  been  troubling  him — perhaps  at  that  moment  she 
was  laughing  at  him  in  her  sleeve— and  goaded  by  the 
intolerable  smart  of  humiliated  egoism  he  cast  about  for 
some  means  of  saving  his  dignity.  The  fact  that  this 
could  only  be  done  by  sacrificing  his  wife's  dignity  did 
not  prevent  him  from  snatching  at  the  first  idea  that 
occurred  to  him. 

"  That  is  a  very  neatly  contrived  little  story,"  he  re- 
marked sardonically.  "  Milly  Dasent,  the  wilds  of 
Tipperary,  a  school-girl  friend.  I  congratulate  you 
upon  the  excellence  of  your  inventive  powers." 

"With  these  words  he  walked  out  of  the  room.  Cec- 
ily, after  standing  still  for  a  few  moments  in  bewilder- 
ment, threw  herself  upon  the  sofa  and  burst  into  a  pas- 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  197 

sion  of  tears.  It  was  clear  that  Miles  had  lost  all  faith 
in  her,  and  that  must  mean  that  he  no  longer  loved  her. 
Would  she  have  to  drag  out  the  rest  of  her  life  bereft 
of  love,  shrinking  before  stony  looks,  cut  to  the  quick 
by  contemptuous  tones.  She  could  not  bear  it — she 
would  far  rather  die.  Death  was  no  longer  a  dim  far- 
away terror ;  it  seemed  to  have  crept  closer  to  her  of 
late,  and  now  it  lurked  at  her  very  elbow.  She  had  felt 
so  ill  all  that  day;  the  light  of  her  life  was  darkened, 
the  solid  earth  seemed  to  reel  beneath  her  feet,  and  an 
horrible  dread  overwhelmed  her. 

Cecily  was  still  lying  on  the  sofa  in  the  chill  dusk  of 
the  early  spring  afternoon,  the  tears  of  mingled  exhaus- 
tion and  misery  slowly  stealing  down  her  cheeks,  when 
"Mr.  Fleming"  was  announced.  A  minute  later  the 
servant  brought  in  lights,  and  then  Jasper  noticed  that 
Mrs.  Dormer's  eyes  were  red  and  swollen,  and  that 
there  were  unmistakable  traces  of  recent  tears  upon  her 
face.  Perceiving  that  any  attempt  at  concealment 
would  be  useless,  Cecily  took  out  her  handkerchief  and 
wiped  her  eyes,  saying  frankly : 

"  I  was  feeling  moped  and  stupid  this  afternoon,  so 
I  amused  myself  in  feminine  fashion  by  indulging  in  a 
good  cry  about  nothing." 

"  You  never  used  to  mope  in  the  old  days,"  said  Jas- 


198  A   STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

per,  sitting  down  beside  her,  and  looking  into  her  face 
with  sympathetic  eyes.  "  And  it  is  not  like  you  to  cry 
about  nothing." 

"  Oh,  yes,  it  is ;  you  don't  know  how  foolish  I  am. 
Besides,  I  really  have  a  headache,  and  my  new  dress 
doesn't  fit." 

"  Ah,  you  can't  turn  it  off  like  that,"  he  said,  with 
genuine  feeling  in  his  tones.  "  "Won't  you  tell  me  what 
your  trouble  is,  and  let  me  try  to  help  you  ?  It  might 
comfort  you  a  little  to  talk  it  over  with  a  friend. 
And  you  do  look  upon  me  as  a  friend,  don't  you, 
Cecily?" 

The  kindness  of  his  manner  touched  her  to  the 
quick.  Try  as  she  would  she  could  not  choke  down  the 
sobs  that  threatened  to  suffocate  her,  nor  could  she  pre- 
vent the  tears  from  filling  her  eyes  again,  though  she 
turned  away  her  head  in  the  hope  that  Jasper  might 
not  see  them. 

"  You  are  very  good,"  she  said,  trying  to  speak  in 
her  natural  tone,  "  and  I  do  look  upon  you  as  a  friend. 
But  there  are  times  when  we  must  all  be  alone,  when 
no  one  can  help  us." 

The  sight  of  her  tears,  the  sound  of  the  sob  in  her 
voice,  sent  the  blood  to  Jasper's  head,  and  made  him 
for  the  moment  forget  all  motives  of  prudence,  honour, 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  199 

or  self-control.     Seizing  Cecily's  two  bauds  in  his,  he 
exclaimed  passionately : 

"Not  the  man  who  loves  you — not  the  man  who 
Would  lay  down  his  life  to  save  you  from  a  finger 
ache?  Cecily,  I  cannot  bear  to  see  you  unhappy,  to 
stand  by  and  do  nothing  to  comfort  you.  Ah,  if  you 
would  only  trust  yourself  to  me  you  should  never 
have  another  moment's  suffering ;  I  would  devote  my 
whole  life  to  making  yours  one  long  dream  of  bliss. 
And  it  would  not  be  wrong,  darling,  because  it  is  love 
that  constitutes  marriage,  and  not  the  ceremony.  If  a 
man  does  not  make  his  wife  happy  he  is  not  really 
married  to  her ;  he  is  not  her  husband  in  the  sight  of 
Heaven.  But  you  and  I,  dearest " 

At  this  point  his  flow  of  eager  rapid  words  was  cut 
short,  for  Cecily  wrenched  her  hands  from  his,  and 
springing  up,  looked  round  helplessly,  as  though  ask- 
ing the  unseen  powers  by  what  cruel  freak  it  was 
that  this  undesired  and  terrifying  declaration  had  been 
brought  upon  her. 

"  Oh,  what  have  I  done  ?  How  have  I  deserved 
this  ? "  she  cried,  throwing  out  her  arms  with  a  ges- 
ture of  despair.  "  Am  I  really  wicked,  or  is  it  some 
horrible  delusion  that  makes  everybody  think  me  so 
depraved  ?  " 


200  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  Cecily,"  said  Jasper,  sobered  by  the  unexpected 
effect  of  his  impulsive  speech.  "  Don't  talk  like  that. 
Nobody  thinks  you  wicked,  I  least  of  all.  If  the 
knowledge  of  my  love  only  alarms  and  distresses  you, 
forget  what  I  have  said.  You  shall  never  be  troubled 
by  me  again." 

She  turned  and  looked  him  straight  in  the 
face. 

"  I  don't  wish  to  assume  any  high  and  mighty  airs 
of  virtue,"  she  said  quietly.  "  If  I  had  made  you  re- 
spect me  in  the  past  I  suppose  you  would  never  have 
used  those  words  to  me  to-day.  But  if  it  is  true  that 
love  alone  constitutes  marriage,  then  I  am  fast  married 
to  my  husband,  for  I  love  him  with  all  my  heart,  and 
I  would  rather  be  miserable  with  him  than  happy 
with  any  other  man  in  the  whole  world." 

"  Then  there  is  nothing  more  to  be  said,"  returned 
Jasper,  trying  to  assume  a  tone  of  easy  indifference, 
"  except  to  beg  your  forgiveness  for  the  annoyance  my 
stupid  blunder  must  have  caused  you." 

"  I  think  there  is  one  thing  more  to  be  said,"  re- 
plied Cecily  gently.  "  The  next  time  you  try  to  com- 
fort an  unhappy  woman,  don't  offer  her  shame  in  ex- 
change for  tears." 

When   Miles   came  in,  his   ill-humour  nearly  dis- 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  201 

pelled  by  a  long  walk,  and  his  conscience  pricking  him 
slightly  for  his  behaviour  in  the  matter  of  the  poet 
Stubbs,  he  was  surprised  to  find  his  wife  prone  upon 
the  sofa  with  her  face  turned  to  the  wall.  Contrary 
to  her  usual  custom,  she  did  not  spring  up  to  welcome 
him,  or  give  any  sign  that  she  had  noticed  his  en- 
trance. 

"  Is  anything  the  matter  ?  "  he  asked,  advancing  to 
her  side.  "  Aren't  you  feeling  well  ?  " 

"  I  am  feeling  as  if — as  if  I  ought  never  to 
have  been  born,"  she  replied,  without  turning  her 
head. 

It  was  so  unlike  Cecily  to  be  sulky  or  resentful 
that  Miles  was  thoroughly  frightened  by  her  be- 
haviour, and  lost  no  time  in  trying  to  make  his  peace 
with  her. 

"I  am  afraid  you  have  been  thinking  of  what  I 
said  this  afternoon,"  he  murmured  apologetically. 
"  But  I  didn't  really  mean  it ;  only  when  one  is  angry 
and  suspicious  one  doesn't  stop  to  weigh  one's  words. 
I  know  I  have  been  rather  a  brute  to  you  of  late,"  he 
went  on,  eating  his  humble  pie  with  as  good  a  grace  as 
as  he  could  assume,  "  but  it's  all  because  I  love  you  so, 
darling,  that  I  should  like  to  kill  every  man  who  so 
much  as  looks  at  you.  Come,  give  me  a  kiss,  and  say 


202  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

you  forgive  me,  and  I'll  try  never  to  be  disagreeable 
again." 

He  put  his  hand  under  her  head,  and  gently 
turned  her  face  round  to  his.  Cecily  submitted  pas- 
sively to  his  caress,  but  for  the  first  time  she  did  not 
return  it. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  stormy  scene  recorded  in  the  last  chapter 
seemed  to  have  cleared  the  air,  for  it  was  followed  by 
a  lull  that  lasted  unbroken  for  a  week  or  ten  days. 
Miles,  a  little  penitent  on  account  of  his  own  behav- 
iour, and  considerably  disturbed  by  his  wife's  pale  face 
and  listless  manner,  was  honestly  trying  to  control  his 
unreasoning  suspicions,  and  to  make  up  by  his  tender- 
ness in  the  present  for  the  harshness  of  which  he  had 
been  guilty  in  the  past.  Cecily,  who  was  incapable  of 
bearing  malice,  responded  readily  to  his  kindness,  and  re- 
joiced in  her  optimistic  heart  at  the  prospect  of  a  renewal 
of  the  peace  and  happiness  of  their  early  wedded  life. 
She  made  up  her  mind  that  at  the  first  favourable 
opportunity  she  would  confide  a  new  and  wonderful 
secret  to  Miles,  a  secret  which,  she  knew,  would 
cause  him  intense  gratification,  and,  in  all  probability, 
render  their  relations  more  permanently  stable  and 
harmonious 

203 


204  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

Meanwhile  Jasper  Fleming  was  endeavouring,  not 
very  successfully,  to  forget  his  disappointment,  and 
stamp  out  his  passion  for  Cecily. 

The  knowledge  that  she  really  loved  her  husband, 
the  destruction  of  his  vague  but  long-cherished  hope, 
left  a  blank  in  his  life  which  rendered  him  moody, 
restless  and  miserable.  He  was  unable  to  sleep,  to  eat 
with  any  appetite,  or  paint  to  any  purpose,  and  his 
sister,  who  depended  upon  his  humours  for  her  sun- 
shine or  her  gloom,  felt  as  though  another  and  a  deeper 
shadow  had  been  cast  upon  her  joyless  life.  Jasper 
had  confided  nothing  to  her  of  his  recent  adventure, 
bat  Dulcibella  had  no  difficulty  in  guessing  the  cause 
of  his  depression.  Although  she  had  no  scruples 
about  teasing  and  scolding  her  brother  herself,  she 
seldom  allowed  any  one  else  to  vex  him  with  impunity, 
and  she  believed  that  Cecily  had  trifled  with  Jasper's 
feelings  out  of  deliberate  vanity  and  wantonness. 

"  That  little  coquette,"  she  said  to  herself,  "  like  all 
pretty  women  she  thinks  that  she  has  a  perfect  right 
to  make  men  miserable,  that  they  are  only  paying  a 
fair  price  for  the  privilege  of  gazing  upon  her  pink 
cheeks  and  simpering  lips.  I  hope  she  will  be  made  a 
fool  of  herself  some  day,  and  then  she  will  learn  what  a 
heartache  feels  like." 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  205 

The  invalid  was  left  much  alone  just  then,  and 
during  the  long  weary  hours  she  lay  and  meditated  in 
impotent  bitterness  upon  the  injustice  of  Fate,  and  the 
folly  of  those  who  believed  that  the  children  of  men 
enjoyed  any  degree  of  equality.  Why,  she  asked  her- 
self, over  and  over  again,  should  some  people  have 
unbroken  prosperity,  whether  they  deserved  it  or  not, 
while  others  dragged  out  the  slow  years  in  shadow  and 
solitude?  In  the  midst  of  her  musings  a  strange 
thought  grew  up  in  her  mind.  Providence,  when 
left  to  itself,  took  no  trouble  to  ensure  equality  in  the 
fortunes  of  men  and  women,  but  Providence  might  be 
assisted  in  its  operations,  might  be  given  a  little 
impetus  in  the  right  direction.  As  she  pondered 
over  these  things,  a  solution  of  the  problem  sug- 
gested itself,  and  a  resolve  slowly  took  shape  in  the 
poor  warped  brain.  The  vision  of  Cecily's  happy 
lot,  brimming  over,  as  Dulcie  believed,  with  love  and 
brightness,  rose  before  her  eyes,  and  side  by  side 
with  it  the  vision  of  her  own  maimed  and  blighted 
life,  as  well  as  of  her  brother's  aching  heart  and 
disappointed  hopes.  Something  must  be  done  to 
rectify  matters,  to  give  the  spoiled  child  of  fortune 
a  taste  of  the  suffering  which  she  had  so  wantonly 
inflicted  upon  others,  and  Dulcie  determined  that 


206  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

she  would  take  upon  herself  the  office  of  executioner 
of  justice. 

She  was  confirmed  in  her  resolution  next  morning 
when  a  new  doctor  who  had  been  called  in  to  see  her 
recommended  that  she  should  try  some  lately  discovered 
German  baths,  which  were  supposed  to  have  a  won- 
derful effect  upon  nervous  ailments.  Jasper,  in  his 
feverish  restlessness,  had  jumped  at  the  idea  of  a 
thorough  change,  and  insisted  that  they  should  start 
at  a  few  days'  notice  for  Schleppenbad.  Dulcie  was 
willing  to  face  the  fatigues  of  a  long  journey  and  the 
discomforts  of  a  foreign  hotel  in  the  hope  that  change 
of  scene  might  enable  Jasper  to  forget  his  woes,  but 
before  she  left  England  she  intended  to  carry  out  her 
little  project  of  righteous  vengeance.  On  the  evening 
that  the  date  of  departure  was  finally  arranged,  Jasper 
being  at  his  club,  she  had  herself  wheeled  into 
the  studio,  where  she  hunted  through  her  brother's 
portfolios  for  his  charcoal  sketches  of  Cecily's  head. 
Choosing  two  or  three  of  the  most  successful,  she 
returned  to  her  own  room,  and  ordering  the  maid  to 
bring  her  a  board  and  drawing  materials,  she  was  soon 
busily  at  work. 

Three  or  four  mornings  later,  while  Miles  was  sit- 
ting at  work  in  his  study,  a  large  flat  parcel  was 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  207 

brought  to  him,  addressed  in  printing  characters.  He 
laid  it  aside  while  he  finished  a  sentence,  then  carelessly 
cut  the  string  and  unfolded  the  paper  covering.  His 
indifference  turned  to  stony  horror,  however,  at  the 
sight  of  the  contents,  which  consisted  of  a  spirited 
chalk  drawing,  entitled  "  The  Artist  and  his  Model. 
Sketched  from  the  Life." 

Miles  sat  staring  blankly  at  the  picture  for  a  few 
moments,  then  suddenly  springing  to  his  feet  he  seized 
the  drawing,  and  rushed  to  the  morning-room  where  he 
knew  that  he  should  find  his  wife  occupied  with  her 
accounts. 

"  What  has  passed  between  you  and  Fleming  ?  "  he 
demanded  in  a  voice  that  he  scarcely  recognised  as  his 
own. 

Cecily  turned  quickly  round,  and  catching  sight  of 
her  husband's  livid  cheeks  and  burning  eyes,  said  to 
herself : 

"  He  knows  everything  and  believes  the  worst." 

A  strange  calmness  came  over  her,  the  calmness  of 
one  who  has  lost  all,  and  has  nothing  more  to  hope  for. 
She  felt  no  fear  of  her  husband,  but  she  knew  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  make  him  understand  how 
much  or  how  little  she  had  been  to  blame,  and  she  did 

not  intend  to  plead  vainly  with  him  for  forgiveness. 

H 


208  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  Mr.  Fleming  is  not  coming  here  again,"  she  said 
quietly. 

"  You  have  forbidden  him  the  house,  have  you  ? " 
cried  Miles  with  an  angry  laugh.  "  Wasn't  that  rather 
like  locking  the  stable  door  after  the  horse  was  stolen  ? 
I  don't  want  to  know  what  precautions  you  have  taken 
to  ensure  your  present  safety;  I  want  to  know  what 
passed  between  you  and  Fleming  before  you  married 
me.  Tell  the  truth,  if  you  can ;  I  am  sick  of  lies  and 
subterfuges." 

"  I  am  going  to  tell  you  the  truth,"  replied  Cecily. 
"  You  can  believe  me  or  not  as  you  please.  I  sat  to  Mr. 
Fleming  as  you  know,  and  he  gave  me  lessons  in  return. 
He  was  very  kind  and  amusing,  and  I  liked  him  very 
much,  and — as  we  got  to  know  each  other  better  he — 
we  were  often  very  silly.  We  played  and  talked  non- 
sense together,  and,  I  suppose,  behaved  very  badly,  but 
I  thought  there  was  no  harm  in  flirting  in  those  days." 

"  I  had  no  idea  I  had  married  a  woman  of  such  wide 
experience,"  observed  Miles.  "  I  should  like  to  know 
how  many  favoured  lovers  you  have  in  the  background. 
I  presume  that  Fleming  treated  you  like  a  lover.  Did 
he  kiss  you  ?  " 

"  Once  or  twice." 

Miles  gave  another  laugh. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  209 

"  Lord !  what  exquisite  fools  men  are.  I  flattered 
myself  that  I  had  won  a  girl  as  pure  and  truthful  as  the 
day,  and  she  turns  out  to  be  a  thorough-paced  coquette, 
who  has  changed  her  lovers  as  she  changed  her  gloves, 
and  an  accomplished  liar  into  the  bargain." 

"  I  have  only  lied  to  you  once,"  said  Cecily  steadily, 
"  and  that  was  because  I  loved  you  so  that  neither  truth 
nor  anything  else  seemed  of  any  consequence  compared 
with  the  fear  of  losing  you." 

"  Have  any  other  men  kissed  you  ?  "  he  demanded. 

"  Two  or  three — at  dances,"  she  confessed,  as  though 
the  circumstances  were  a  partial  justification  of  the 
offence. 

"  After  supper,  I  presume,"  said  Miles,  with  a  grin 
like  that  of  an  angry  dog.  "  Now  will  you  kindly  pro- 
ceed with  the  narrative  of  your  last  romance,  if  it  is 
your  last.  You  encouraged  your  lover  to  continue  his 
attentions  to  you  at  my  house." 

"  I  did  not  encourage  him.  I  allowed  him  to  come 
to  the  house  like  any  other  acquaintance  because  I  be- 
lieved that  he  had  quite  got  over  his  fancy  for  me." 

"  And  afterwards  you  found  that  you  were  mis- 
taken?" 

"  Yes ;  but  of  course  that  was  the  end  of  our  friend- 
ship." 


210  A  STUDY   IN   PREJUDICES. 

"  I  should  have  thought  it  was  rather  late  in  the 
day  for  scruples  of  delicacy,  considering  the  terms  of 
familiarity  upon  which  you  had  stood  in  the  past," 
sneered  Miles. 

As  his  wife  made  no  reply  to  his  taunt,  he  suddenly 
produced  the  drawing,  and  held  it  up  before  her  eyes. 

"  I  was  alluding  to  the  days  when  this  sketch  was 
taken,"  he  said. 

Cecily  gave  a  gasp  of  astonishment,  and  then,  much 
to  her  own  surprise,  broke  into  a  fit  of  nervous 
laughter,  the  result  of  long  pent-up  emotion  and 
physical  exhaustion.  But  Miles,  regarding  this  be- 
haviour as  a  proof  that  she  was  even  more  hardened 
than  he  had  imagined,  exclaimed  indignantly : 

"  Woman,  are  you  so  lost  to  all  sense  of  shame  that 
you  can  laugh  at  your  own  infamy  ?  " 

"  Infamy !  Miles,"  cried  Cecily,  with  a  little 
hysterical  giggle.  "  You  can't  really  believe  that  I 
sat  to  Mr.  Fleming  in  that  costume.  It  is  a  cruel 
hoax,  and  I  believe  I  know  who  is  the  author  of  it." 

"  I  hope  it  may  be  a  hoax,"  said  Miles,  "  though  of 
course  I  cannot  any  longer  place  reliance  on  your  word. 
But  the  sketch,  whether  it  were  taken  from  the  life  or 
no,  has  done  its  part ;  it  has  enabled  me  to  convict  you 
out  of  your  mouth.  I  knew  nothing  about  your  rela- 


A  STDDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  211 

tions  with  Fleming  when  I  came  into  this  room,  and 
now  I  know  a  good  deal,  though  I  dare  not  hope  every- 
thing." 

There  was  a  pause. 

"  What  are  you  going    to  do  ? "  asked   Cecily  at 
length. 

"  I  think  I  had  better  go  abroad  for  a  time,  for  I 
really  cannot  stand  the  resurrection  of  any  more  lovers 
just  at  present,"  he  replied.  "  I  don't  accuse  you  of 
having  done  anything  that  would  justify  a  separation  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world,  for  women  like  you  are  generally 
careful  to  keep  within  the  letter  of  the  law.  It  amuses 
you  to  dance  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice,  but  it  is  self- 
interest,  not  virtue,  that  keeps  you  from  toppling  over. 
Personally,  I  have  more  respect  for  the  woman  who  falls 
a  victim  to  the  warmth  of  her  passions  than  for  a  re- 
spectable, cold-blooded  coquette.  I  fully  admit  your 
legal  claim  upon  me,  but  when  love  and  confidence 
have  been  destroyed,  it  seems  to  me  a  mere  farce  for  a 
married  couple  to  remain  under  the  same  roof.  You 
can  stay  here  if  you  please,  or  you  can  go  elsewhere, 
and  in  either  case  I  will  make  you  a  suitable  allowance. 
Some  day  when  I  have  got  over  the  shock  of  the 
discovery  of  your  real  character,  it  may  be  possible  for 
me  to  contemplate  a  renewal  of  our  life  together." 


212  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

Cecily  did  not  answer  at  once.  She  was  debating 
within  herself  whether  or  no  she  should  tell  Miles  her 
secret.  She  had  intended  to  confide  it  to  him  that 
very  day,  if  he  continued  to  be  in  a  kind  and  affection- 
ate mood.  She  had  really  looked  forward  to  forgetting 
her  personal  fears  in  the  knowledge  of  his  pride,  his 
happiness  and  his  tender  solicitude  for  herself.  But 
now  all  was  changed,  for  the  news  would  cause  him 
more  embarrassment  than  pleasure.  He  would  control 
his  anger,  no  doubt,  conceal  his  disdain,  and  perhaps 
decide  to  remain  with  her,  but  he  would  be  actuated  by 
pity,  not  by  love.  No,  she  felt  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  make  the  revelation  in  that  miserable  moment. 
Later  on,  when  they  were  far  apart,  tidings  would  reach 
him  that  would  surely  soften  his  heart  towards  his 
unsatisfactory  wife,  and  bring  him  back  to  her  side 
with  pardon  and  tenderness  in  his  heart.  But  for  the 
present  she  could  not  endure  the  thought  of  remaining 
in  London,  in  the  sight  of  all  her  friends  a  forlorn  and 
deserted  wife. 

"  I  would  rather  go  away  somewhere,"  she  said.  "  I 
suppose  I  must  take  some  of  your  money,  as  you 
allowed  me  to  give  mine  to  Kate  and  Peter?  But  I 
can  manage  with  very  little." 

"  I    shall  give  you  the  allowance  suitable  to  my 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  213 

wife,"  he  replied,  seating  himself  at  the  writing-table. 
He  wrote  a  cheque  for  a  hundred  pounds,  and  handed 
it  to  her.  "  I  will  tell  my  bankers  to  send  you  the 
same  quarterly  if  you  will  let  them  have  your  address," 
he  said.  "  Of  course  you  understand  that  the  allowance 
will  only  be  continued  as  long  as  I  have  reason  to 
believe  that  you  are  living  in  a  manner  of  which  I 
should  approve." 

If  Cecily  had  had  only  herself  to  think  of  she  would 
have  refused  the  money  thus  offered,  but  the  recollec- 
tion of  her  secret  forced  her  to  subdue  her  pride,  and 
she  took  the  cheque  without  a  word. 

"  You  can  tell  your  friends  what  story  you  please," 
said  Miles.  "  I  shall  not  contradict  it.  I  daresay  the 
world  would  consider  my  conduct  absurdly  fastidious 
and  over-strained  if  it  knew  my  true  reason  for  leaving 
you.  But  I  think  differently  from  the  world  in  these 
matters,  and  I  am  convinced  that  in  the  present  state 
of  my  feeling  towards  you  it  would  not  be  for  the  real 
good  of  either  of  us  if  we  remained  together." 

"I  have  no  doubt  you  are  right,"  replied  Cecily, 
speaking  as  dispassionately  as  if  she  were  discussing  the 
case  of  a  third  person.  "  Xow  that  you  have  lost  your 
love  for  and  trust  in  me  you  would  only  be  miserable  if 
we  went  on  living  together,  and  you  would  make  me 


214  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

miserable  too.  I  can  quite  understand  your  feeling,  for 
it  was  my  faith  in  your  goodness  that  first  drew  me  to 
you,  and  made  my  love  for  you  so  satisfying  and  com- 
plete. I  forgot  that  our  marriage  might  not  be  a  fair 
bargain  for  you,  that  there  was  such  a  thing  as  a  moral 
mesalliance.  You  seemed  so  ready  to  take  me  with  all 
my  faults,  so  willing  to  make  allowance  for  all  my 
weakness,  that  I — I  had  not  the  strength  to  throw 
away  what  looked  like  a  chance  of  perfect  happiness." 

Truth  rang  out  of  every  word,  candour  shone  from 
her  unclouded  eyes.  Miles,  as  he  looked  and  listened, 
felt  his  pride  weakened,  his  resolution  wavering,  even 
his  belief  in  the  evidence  of  his  own  senses  shaken. 

"  You  need  not  hurry  to  go,"  he  said,  realising  that 
his  only  chance  of  safety  lay  in  flight.  "  I  shall  take  a 
room  at  the  club  for  a  few  days  and  only  come  back  to 
pack  up." 

"  No,  no,  I  would  rather  go  at  once,"  cried  Cecily, 
across  whose  mind  flitted  visions  of  unaired  sheets 
which  would  give  Miles  rheumatism,  or  a  feather-bed 
which  would  give  him  nightmares.  "  It  is  only  eleven 
o'clock ;  I  shall  be  gone  by  three.  So  if  you  come 
home  to  dinner  you  will  find — no  one  here." 

"  As  you  please,"  he  said,  turning  to  leave  the  room, 
but  not  trusting  himself  to  bid  his  wife  farewell. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  215 

"  Any  letters  that  you  may  send  here  will  be  forwarded 
to  me,  and  when  I  know  your  address  I  will  let  you 
hear  from  time  to  time  how  I  am  getting  on." 

"Thank  you,"  said  Cecily.  "And,  Miles,"  she 
called,  before  he  had  time  to  reach  the  door,  "  you  will 
take  care  of  yourself,  won't  you  ?  Don't  go  into  dan- 
gerous places,  or  run  any  unnecessary  risks." 

"  You  needn't  be  anxious  about  me,"  returned  her 
husband,  as  he  finally  made  his  escape.  "  No  harm 
ever  comes  to  people  who  have  nothing  left  to  live 
for." 

Cecily  felt  tempted  to  cry  after  him,  "  You  may 
have  more  to  live  for  than  you  think,"  but  she  con- 
trolled the  impulse,  and  a  moment  later  she  heard  the 
hall  door  slam,  and  realised  that  she  was  that  most 
lonely  of  all  created  beings — a  deserted  wife. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

WHEN"  Cecily  understood  that  Miles  had  really 
gone,  that  there  was  no  looking  back,  no  relenting  in 
his  heart,  she  went  to  her  room,  and  began  to  pack 
such  of  her  belongings  as  she  desired  to  take  with  her 
in  a  dull  mechanical  sort  of  way.  It  was  not  until  the 
packing  was  finished,  a  short  letter  of  explanation 
written  to  Kate,  and  a  cab  whistled  for,  that  she  re- 
membered it  would  be  necessary  for  her  to  fix  upon 
her  destination 

"  Where  to,  ma'am  ? "  asked  the  parlour-maid, 
whose  curiosity  about  this  sudden  departure  had  not 
been  satisfied  by  her  mistress's  explanation  that  she 
had  been  called  unexpectedly  into  the  country. 

"  Where  to  ?  "  Cecily  stared  vaguely  for  a  moment 
in  the  woman's  face,  and  then  uttered  the  only 
words  that  occurred  to  her,  "  To  Paddington  Station." 

On  the  occasion  of  their  journey  to  Ilfracombe,  the 
only  time  that  Miles  and  she  had  gone  out  of  town 

216 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  217 

since   their  return  from  their  wedding-tour,  they  had 
started  from  Paddington  Station,  and  it  was  natural, 
perhaps,  that  in  this  moment  of  misery  and  bewilder- 
ment the  name  should  suggest  itself   to   her  mind. 
Before  the  cab  had  proceeded  far,  however,  she  recol- 
lected that  if  she   wished  to  keep  her  whereabouts  a 
secret,  it  would  be  as  well  to  cash  her  cheque  before 
leaving  town.     Accordingly,  she  ordered  the  cabman  to 
drive  to  the  West  End  branch  of  her  husband's  bank, 
and,   having  accomplished  her  business,   she  resumed 
her  journey  to  Paddington.      Arrived  at  the   station, 
she  found  her  way  somehow  to  the  booking-office,  but 
here  another  difficulty  presented  itself.     To  what  place 
should  she  take  a  ticket?    Ilfracombe   was  the  only 
name  she  could  recollect,  and  why  not  Ilfracombe  as 
well  as  any  other  place?    There,  at  least,  she  would 
find  warmth,   sunshine,  and  beautiful  scenery,   to  say 
nothing  of  bitter-sweet  memories  of  happier  things. 
She  took  a  ticket  to  Ilfracombe ;  an  express,  she  was 
told,  would  start  at  three-thirty,  and  it  was  already  past 
three. 

For  the  next  five  or  six  hours  the  cast-off  wife  sat  in 
the  corner  of  a  carriage,  her  eyes  and  mind  alike  a 
blank.  People  got  in  and  out,  but  she  did  not  notice 
them  ;  one  or  two  spoke  to  her,  but  she  did  not  know 


218  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

what  she  answered  them.  Occasionally  the  name  of  a 
station  brought  a  gleam  of  consciousness.  Here  Miles 
had  bought  a  book  for  her,  there  he  had  brought  her  a 
cup  of  tea,  and  here  again  they  had  started  guiltily 
apart  when  the  guard  appeared  at  the  window.  When 
at  length  the  train  ran  into  Ilfracombe  she  sat  still  in 
her  corner  until  a  porter  came  to  tell  her  that  the  ter- 
minus was  reached.  Seeing  that  she  looked  strange 
and  ill,  he  managed  to  find  her  luggage  with  such 
vague  description  as  she  could  give  him,  and  put  her 
into  a  cab,  when,  for  the  third  time,  came  the  puzzling 
question : 

"  Where  to  ?  " 

"  To  Combe  Cottage,  Bideford  Road,"  replied  Cecily, 
in  whose  brain  the  address  seemed  to  have  stuck  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  else.  She  recollected  the  bill  "  Apart- 
ments to  Let "  in  the  window,  and  it  being  then  only 
the  beginning  of  May,  she  thought  there  was  a  fair 
chance  that  one  room,  at  least,  would  be  vacant.  Nor 
was  she  disappointed.  When  the  cab  stopped  at  the 
door  of  the  cottage  a  tall  middle-aged  woman  came  out, 
followed  by  a  little  maid,  and  received  the  weary  trav- 
ellers There  was  no  difficulty  about  rooms  ;  the  cottage 
was  empty  at  present,  but  unrecommended  lodgers  were 
expected  to  pay  a  week's  rent  in  advance.  Cecily  paid 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  219 

the  sum  demanded,  and  then  begged  to  be  shown 
straight  to  her  room.  She  was  tired  and  poorly,  she 
explained,  and  wanted  nothing  but  a  cup  of  tea  and  a 
good  night's  rest. 

The  first  few  days  in  her  abode  passed  with  Cecily 
like  an  uneasy  dream.  Afterwards  she  had  vague  mem- 
ories of  aimless  strolls  about  the  town,  which,  somehow, 
always  led  to  the  hotel  where  she  and  Miles  had  passed 
the  night,  of  long  hours  spent  in  listless  idleness  and 
unrefreshing  sleep,  of  repulsive-looking  meals  that  ap- 
peared only  to  be  sent  away  again,  of  an  occasional 
snappish  remark  or  suspicious  question  from  her  land- 
lady, Miss  Susan  Redd.  As  the  days  passed  on,  how- 
ever, thought  and  consciousness  began  to  return,  the 
bruised  heart  reviving  like  a  trampled  plant  under  the 
healing  influences  of  warm  sunshine  and  pure  air. 
Cecily  still  possessed  all  the  recuperative  force  of  youth  ; 
she  was  feeling  better  physically  than  she  had  done  for 
some  time  past,  and  she  was  insensibly  cheered  and 
soothed  by  the  beauty  of  her  surroundings  and  the 
charm  of  the  May  weather.  She  began  to  take  herself 
to  task,  to  tell  herself  that  in  her  circumstances  it  was 
criminal  to  fret,  and  that  there  was  no  occasion  for 
despair.  She  reminded  herself  that  Miles,  in  spite  of 
his  natural  indignation  and  disappointment,  had  not 


220  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

cast  her  off  for  ever,  and  she  resolved  to  pass  her  period 
of  probation  in  a  way  that  would  be  likely  to  commend 
itself  to  his  mind  when  he  should  be  pleased  to  receive 
her  back  into  favour  again. 

She  spent  a  great  part  of  the  long  warm  days  out 
upon  the  cliffs,  now  drinking  in  the  beauty  of  the 
scenes  around  her,  now  trying  to  transfer  some  of  them 
to  paper.  Sometimes  she  brought  out  a  book  from  the 
library,  making  pathetic  endeavours  to  choose  works 
that  would  be  likely  to  strengthen  and  improve  her 
character,  and  that  yet  were  not  what  her  husband 
would  consider  too  advanced  for  feminine  perusal.  At 
home  there  was  the  finest  and  most  delicate  of  needle- 
work to  be  done,  stitching  so  elaborate  that  it  required 
brain  as  well  as  eyes  and  fingers,  and  served  to  distract 
her  thoughts  from  herself,  her  cares  and  anxieties.  In 
spite  of  the  loneliness  of  her  lot  she  was  not  actually 
unhappy  during  those  long  quiet  weeks.  She  was  lead- 
ing a  healthy,  innocent  life,  she  had  plenty  of  occupa- 
tion in  the  present,  and  she  had  hope  for  the  future. 
Even  the  ordeal  that  lay  before  her,  and  that  once 
would  have  filled  her  with  terror,  she  now  looked  for- 
ward to  with  cheerful  courage,  much  as  a  good  Catholic 
might  look  forward  to  the  fires  of  purgatory,  knowing 
them  to  be  the  only  means  of  reaching  the  joys  of 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  221 

heaven.  Wishing  to  keep  her  hiding-place  a  secret  for 
the  present,  Cecily  had  given  her  name  as  Mrs.  Miles, 
and  had  not  sent  her  address  even  to  her  sister.  If 
her  child  died  she  was  determined  to  take  no  more 
of  her  husband's  money,  but  to  go  and  live  with  Kate, 
who,  she  felt  sure,  would  be  able  to  put  her  in  the  way 
of  earning  her  bread.  But  if  it  lived — then  she  would 
take  it  to  Miles,  and  he  would  freely  forgive  her  for  the 
sake  of  the  innocent  little  creature,  who  would  be  the 
unconscious  means  of  their  reconciliation,  and  the 
pledge  of  the  renewal  of  their  love.  There  were  mo- 
ments in  which  she  could  almost  see  Miles's  expression 
of  incredulous  delight  at  the  gift  she  had  brought  him, 
almost  feel  his  arms  round  her  in  loving  pardon, 
mingled  perhaps  with  just  a  touch  of  penitence.  And 
she  would  use  no  reproach  to  him  more  bitter  than  Imo- 
gen's gentle  "  Why  did  you  throw  your  wedded  lady 
from  you  ?  "  She  fancied  she  could  hear  him  reply,  as 
she  clung  round  his  neck  :  "  Hang  there  like  fruit,  my 
soul,  till  the  tree  die." 

Gradually  she  fell  into  the  habit  of  living  almost 
entirely  in  the  past  or  the  future,  for  companionship 
in  the  present  she  had  none.  Miss  Rhoda,  the  younger 
of  the  two  ladies  of  the  house,  had  been  away  since 
Cecily's  arrival,  nursing  her  invalid  mother,  and  Miss 


222  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

Susan's  society  was  not  an  unmixed  pleasure.  Once  or 
twice  Cecily  had  asked  her  landlady  questions  about 
her  old  home,  in  the  hope  of  hearing  incidentally 
something  about  Miles,  but  she  had  never  been  grati- 
fied in  this  desire.  Miss  Redd  seemed  to  be  suffering 
from  a  chronic  sense  of  injury,  and  to  have  a  perma- 
nent quarrel  with  Fate  ;  consequently,  she  had  nothing 
pleasant  to  tell.  Of  course  she  had  seen  better  days, 
but  the  better  days  themselves  were  a  source  of  griev- 
ance, in  that  they  had  departed. 

"  Ah,  I  never  thought  I  should  come  down  to  doing 
a  menial's  work  in  another  person's  house,"  she  said 
one  day  with  an  indignant  sniff.  "  It  seems  going 
against  Xature  to  make  the  elder  sister  servant  to  the 
younger." 

"  But  I  thought  you  were  joint-owners  of  the 
house,"  said  Cecily.  "  I  understood  that  you  were 
my  landlady." 

"  Oh  dear  me,  no,  I'm  only  the  slavey,"  returned 
Miss  Susan  with  what  she  believed  to  be  cutting  sar- 
casm. "  It's  Rhoda's  house,  and  Rhoda  is  mistress 
here.  I  never  did  anything  but  lead  a  steady,  hard- 
working life  on  the  farm,  looking  after  the  dairy  and 
attending  to  father  and  mother.  I  never  made  anyone 
miserable,  nor  brought  misfortune  on  my  home.  So, 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  223 

of  course,  I  don't  deserve  to  have  a  house  and  furniture, 
and  servants  under  me.  I  couldn't  expect  it." 

Cecily  was  puzzled  by  this  speech,  which  was  not 
the  first  of  the  kind  she  had  heard  from  the  lips  of 
Miss  Eedd,  but  it  was  so  obviously  inspired  by  envy 
and  malice  that  she  did  not  choose  to  ask  for  an  ex- 
planation. She  felt  certain  that  she  should  like  Miss 
Rhoda,  a  conviction  that  was  strengthened  by  the  study 
of  a  photograph  of  the  younger  Miss  Redd  which  stood 
on  the  parlour  mantel-piece,  and  which  represented  a 
comely-looking  woman,  with  honest  eyes,  and  a  kindly, 
capable  expression.  Cecily  often  found  herself  wishing 
that  Rhoda  would  come  home;  it  would  be  such  a 
comfort  to  have  a  nice,  sensible  woman  in  the  house. 

Miss  Susan  was  not  without  her  curiosity  about 
her  lodger,  who  was  evidently  a  lady  and  possessed 
of  means,  but  who  appeared  to  have  no  friends,  and 
never  received  a  letter. 

"  I  suppose  you'll  be  expecting  your  husband  back 
before  long,  Mrs.  Miles?"  she  remarked  one  evening 
as  she  was  clearing  away  the  tea  things. 

"  I  don't  know — not  just  yet,"  stammered  Cecily, 
flushing  crimson  under  the  other's  look  and  glance. 
"  He's  gone  abroad,  you  see,  and  I  can't  tell  how  long 

he  may  be  detained." 
15 


224  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  He  don't  seem  to  write  often." 

"  No,  I  haven't  heard  from  him  since  I  have  been 
here.  He  is  travelling  in  out-of-the-way  parts,  and  I 
don't  expect  a  letter  at  present." 

"  H'm,  it's  a  queer  time  to  choose  to  travel  in  out-of- 
the-way  parts,"  observed  Miss  Redd,  with  a  glance  at 
the  little  garment  in  Cecily's  hand. 

"  He  was  obliged  to  go ;  he  couldn't  help  him- 
self," murmured  Cecily.  "  But  he  will  be  coming 
back  some  day,  and  I  keep  my  spirits  up  looking 
forward  to  that." 

When  Cecily  had  been  rather  more  than  a  month  at 
Combe  Cottage  a  gleam  of  interest  was  introduced  into 
her  uneventful  life  by  the  appearance  of  her  husband's 
novel.  She  could  not  resist  committing  the  extrava- 
gance of  sending  a  guinea  to  a  press-cutting-agency 
for  notices  of  the  book,  and  these,  as  they  arrived, 
were  a  source  of  unqualified  delight.  The  critics  were 
almost  unanimous  in  declaring  that  in  his  latest  work 
Miles  Dormer  had  made  a  great  step  in  advance,  that 
he  might  now  take  his  place  in  the  front  rank  of  the 
novelists  of  the  day.  Several  of  the  reviewers  ex- 
pressed their  surprise  at  the  hitherto  unsuspected 
capabilities  of  pathos  and  passion  suddenly  revealed  by 
the  author,  as  well  as  their  admiration  at  his  exquisite 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  225 

study  of  feminine  character  as  depicted  in  the  per- 
son of  his  heroine.  Cecily  laughed  and  cried  as  she 
read  and  re-read  the  notices.  She  knew  that  she  her- 
self had  been  the  inspiration  of  the  book,  and  that 
though  Miles  had  proved  himself  so  woefully  mistaken 
in  his  estimate  of  her  character,  yet  that  she,  or  rather 
his  idea  of  her,  was  the  model  from  which  the  much-be- 
lauded heroine  had  been  drawn.  When  she  saw  that 
by  his  latest  book,  Miles's  reputation  as  a  successful 
novelist  was  held  to  be  thoroughly  established,  she  was 
able  to  console  herself  with  the  thought  that  she  had 
brought  him  something  better  than  pain  and  dis- 
appointment. His  love  for  her,  based  on  illusion 
though  it  were,  had  taught  him  secrets  that  he  had 
never  known  before. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

AFTER  the  parting  scene  with  his  wife  Miles  had 
dashed  out  of  the  house,  not  caring  whither  he  went 
nor  what  he  did  so  long  as  he  was  not  reminded  of  the 
unworthy  woman  who  bore  his  name.  After  lunching 
at  his  club,  the  happy  thought  occurred  to  him  that 
he  would  call  on  Miss  Nora  Vavasour,  the  actress  who 
had  played  juvenile  lead  in  his  last  piece,  and  who,  at 
rehearsals,  had  made  a  determined  effort  to  get  up  a 
flirtation  with  the  author  of  the  play,  an  effort  which 
he  had  as  resolutely  discouraged.  But  now,  if  Miss  Va- 
vasour chose  to  renew  the  hitherto  one-sided  flirtation, 
she  should  find  him  ready  to  meet  her  more  than  half- 
way. As  it  happened,  the  actress  was  at  home,  taking 
a  nap  before  the  labours  of  the  evening,  but  she  was 
quickly  wide-awake  when  Mr.  Dormer  was  announced, 
for  she  was  convinced  that,  heavy  in  hand  as  she  had 
always  found  him,  it  was  well  worth  her  while  to  be  on 
good  termfe  with  so  successful  a  playwright.  Miss  Va- 

226 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  227 

vasour  could  still  boast  of  an  effective  "  stage  presence," 
but  on  a  bright  May  afternoon  even  pink  blinds  could 
scarcely  disguise  the  fact  that  she  was  no  longer  physi- 
cally adapted  for  juvenile  lead.  She  was  extremely 
vivacious  and  friendly,  however,  and  Miles  did  his  best 
to  keep  pace  with  her  chaff,  and  respond  to  her  play- 
fulness. She  struck  him  as  unusually  vulgar  and 
stupid,  and  he  was  aware  that  her  reputation  was  none 
of  the  best,  but  he  told  himself  savagely  that  women 
were  all  alike,  and  that  the  apparently  refined  and  in- 
nocent were  just  as  worthless  as  the  rowdy  and  world- 
worn.  Miles  had  not  much  notion  of  flirting,  but  he 
astonished  and  rather  frightened  Miss  Vavasour  by 
sitting  very  close  to  her  on  the  sofa,  staring  into  her 
face  with  strained,  feverish  eyes,  and  paying  her  sar- 
donically extravagant  compliments.  She  contented 
herself,  however,  with  rapping  his  fingers  with  a  tea- 
spoon when  he  tried  to  take  her  hand,  and  parrying 
warmer  attentions  with  the  sofa-cushion,  and  Miles, 
though  he  was  not  enjoying  himself  at  all,  fancied  that 
in  some  inexplicable  way  he  was  taking  his  revenge 
upon  Cecily. 

When  at  length  he  rose  to  say  good-bye,  he  felt 
that  he  was  on  sufficiently  familiar  terms  with  his  hos- 
tess to  attempt  to  snatch  a  farewell  kiss.  Miss  Vava- 


228  A  STUDY  IX  PREJUDICES. 

sour's  golden  head,  when  she  stood  up,  was  nearly  on  a 
level  with  his  own,  and  as  he  bent  towards  her,  his 
purpose  plainly  visible  in  his  eyes,  she  showed  no  signs 
of  alarm.  But  just  at  the  critical  moment,  a  stream  of 
sunshine  stole  from  behind  the  pink  blinds  and  lit  up 
the  actress's  face,  with  its  canvas-like  skin,  red  with- 
ered lips,  and  elderly  chin.  The  remembrance  of 
Cecily's  soft  cheeks  and  roseleaf  lips  came  between 
him  and  the  face  so  near  his  own,  and  much  to  Miss 
Vavasour's  surprise  he  suddenly  relinquished  his  pur- 
pose, and  with  a  muttered  farewell,  hurried  out  of  the 
room.  After  a  good  dinner  at  his  club,  with  consider- 
ably more  than  his  usual  allowance  of  wine,  Miles  al- 
lowed himself  to  be  carried  off  by  a  youthful-minded 
friend  to  spend  the  evening  at  a  popular  music-hall, 
where  he  was  assured  that  the  entertainment  provided 
would  "  make  his  hair  curl."  Here  he  tried  to  find 
amusement  in  the  songs,  tried  to  take  an  interest  in  the 
dancing,  tried  to  admire  some  of  the  beauties  in  the 
promenade,  and  failed  in  all  three  attempts,  his  heart 
and  mind  remaining,  against  his  will,  resolutely  faith- 
ful to  his  wife.  The  performance  was  followed  by  a 
little  supper,  and  then  Miles  realised  that  he  would 
have  to  go  home — no,  not  home,  only  back  to  his 
house,  for  he  remembered  that  Cecily  had  told  him  he 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  229 

would  find  no  one  there.  And  so  it  was.  When  he 
let  himself  in  he  went  slowly  up  to  her  room,  half- 
hoping,  half -fearing  to  see  a  curly  head  on  the  pillow. 
But  the  room  was  empty,  and  there  was  no  sign  of  its 
former  occupant  except  a  few  scattered  trifles,  a  cut- 
glass  bottle  of  eau-de-cologne,  a  scrap  of  lace  hanging 
out  of  a  half-open  drawer,  and  a  pair  of  tiny  scarlet 
slippers  under  the  dressing-table.  He  took  up  one  of 
the  slippers  and  looked  at  it  curiously.  Here  was  the 
little  half-worn  thing  lying  safely  in  his  hand,  while 
the  precious  foot  it  once  contained  had  wandered  he 
knew  not  whither,  banished  by  his  own  decree.  When 
he  went  into  his  dressing-room  the  slipper  was  still  in 
his  hand,  and  scarce  conscious  of  what  he  did,  he 
locked  it  away  in  the  drawer  that  contained  his 
favourite  photograph  of  Cecily  and  a  curl  of  her 
hair. 

The  next  morning  Miles  awoke  to  the  consciousness 
that  he  was  alone  and  thoroughly  miserable.  His 
righteous  indignation  was  already  beginning  to  fade 
away,  and  leave  an  aching  void  in  its  place.  For  the 
first  time  in  ten  months  he  breakfasted  by  himself,  and 
decided  that  the  most  forlorn  being  in  the  whole  world 
was  a  man  pouring  out  his  own  tea.  Unable  to  bear 
the  sight  of  the  empty  place  opposite  to  him,  he  took 


230  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

up  the  paper  and  glanced  over  its  contents.  Among 
the  smaller  items  of  news  was  a  paragraph  which  stated 
that  Mr.  Jasper  .Fleming,  A.  R.  A.,  had  left  England 
for  the  Continent,  and  therefore  would  be  unable  to 
take  the  chair  at  the  annual  dinner  of  the  Society  of 
Painters  in  Pastel.  Miles  threw  down  the  paper  with 
an  exclamation  of  annoyance.  He  had  intended  to  go 
to  the  artist's  house  that  very  morning,  and  demand 
the  meaning  of  the  drawing  that  had  been  sent  to  him. 
He  would  have  been  glad  of  the  opportunity  of  work- 
ing off  his  wrath  upon  a  legitimate  object,  but  now  it 
appeared  that  this  satisfaction  was  denied  to  him.  It 
was  not  of  much  consequence  after  all,  he  reflected, 
since  Cecily's  confession,  and  not  the  drawing,  was  the 
real  cause  of  his  separation  from  her. 

He  decided  to  prepare  at  once  for  a  long-projected 
tour  in  Norway.  There,  amid  new  scenes  and  fresh 
faces,  he  would  have  nothing  to  remind  him  of  the 
woman  who  had  caused  him  so  much  suffering,  but 
everything  to  distract  his  thoughts  and  occupy  his 
mind.  No  doubt  he  would  be  able  to  pick  up  plenty 
of  local  colour,  and  he  had  some  idea  of  laying  the 
scene  of  his  next  book  in  Scandinavia.  These  reso- 
lutely cheerful  thoughts  were  interrupted  from  time  to 
time  by  a  twinge  at  his  heart,  which  made  him  catch 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  231 

his  breath  and  clench  his  hands  to  prevent  himself 
from  groaning  aloud  in  agony. 

He  was  disturbed  in  his  preparations  by  the  an- 
nouncement that  Mr.  Bingley  had  called  to  see  him. 
Miles,  fancying  that  the  news  of  his  domestic  misfor- 
tunes had  already  reached  the  Bingleys,  and  that  his 
brother-in-law  had  come  to  remonstrate  or  condole  with 
him,  stiffened  his  neck  and  went  down  to  his  study 
with  the  determination  to  snub  any  such  ill-judged  in- 
tentions. He  found  Mr.  Bingley  sitting  on  the  edge 
of  the  most  uncomfortable  chair  in  the  room,  his  nose 
slightly  red,  and  his  eyes  more  watery  than  ever.  He 
did  not  look  as  if  he  required  snubbing,  and  Miles 
greeted  him  with  contemptuous  urbanity. 

"  I  have  come,"  said  the  little  man  with  impressive 
solemnity,  "  to  consult  you  upon  a  very  serious  matter 
— a  matter  that  affects  the  happiness  and  well-being  of 
my  five  children  no  less  than  of  myself." 

"  I  shall  be  very  glad  if  I  can  be  of  any  service  to 
you,"  returned  Miles,  wondering  what  could  be  wrong 
with  the  domestic  affairs  of  a  man  who  rejoiced  in  the 
possession  of  a  household  treasure  like  Maria. 

"  Miles,"  said  Mr.  Bingley,  with  the  pathetic  dig- 
nity of  one  who  has  drunk  the  cup  of  suffering  to  its 
bitterest  dregs,  "  I  am  a  very  miserable  man." 


232  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

Miles  was  on  the  point  of  saying,  "  What,  you  too ! " 
but  he  controlled  the  impulse,  and  answered  gently : 

"  Tell  me  what  is  wrong  with  you." 

"  I  can  tell  you  in  one  word,"  said  his  brother-in- 
law.  "  Maria  is  what  is  wrong  with  me.  Yes,  I  don't 
wonder  you  look  surprised.  I  have  never  told  you  what 
I  have  suffered  from  her  before  because  she  is  your  sis- 
ter, but  I  don't  see  why  you  should  not  hear  the  truth 
about  her  for  once ;  I  have  held  my  tongue  long 
enough.  Maria  has  not  only  ruined  my  life — that  is 
no  great  matter — but  she  is  ruining  the  lives  of  my 
children  as  well,  and  that  is  more  than  I  can  stand." 

"  Maria ! "  gasped  Miles,  his  own  troubles  com- 
pletely driven  out  of  his  head  for  the  moment  by  this 
astounding  revelation.  "  But  I  always  thought " 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  always  thought  that  Maria  was  a  do- 
mestic paragon  because  she  talked  of  nothing  but  her 
children  and  servants,"  said  the  other  with  a  touch  of 
scorn.  "  It  is  curious  how  easily  the  cleverest  man  may 
be  taken  in  by  the  stupidest  woman.  Maria  is  like 
those  pseudo-pious  people  who  are  always  talking  about 
religion  but  who  never  practise  it.  Do  you  know  that 
I've  never  had  a  comfortable  meal  in  my  own  home 
since  I  married  ?  Do  you  know  that  we  don't  keep  a 
servant  on  an  average  more  than  three  months?  Do 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  333 

you  know  that  I  have  been  made  to  quarrel  with  all  my 
old  friends,  that  I  have  had  to  scheme  and  intrigue  like 
the  hero  of  a  Palais  Royal  farce  to  get  a  few  hours  to 
myself,  that  all  my  manhood,  such  as  it  is,  has  been 
sapped  away,  by  living  for  fifteen  years  with  a  feminine 
fool?  But  all  that  is  nothing  compared  with  the  misery 
of  seeing  her  disastrous  influence  on  my  children." 

"  But  what  has  she  done  ?  What  are  you  talkiug 
about?"  asked  Miles,  still  scarcely  able  to  believe  his 
ears. 

"  That's  what  I  am  going  to  tell  you.  You  know  I 
always  had  domestic  tastes,  and  that  I  married  Maria 
chiefly  because  I  thought  that  having  no  apparent  in- 
tellect and  no  education  worthy  of  the  name,  she  was 
certain  to  prove  an  excellent  wife  and  mother.  Like 
you  and  most  other  men  I  believed  that  a  clever  woman 
was  likely  to  play  the  devil  in  a  home.  Well,  with 
Maria  I  have  never  had  a  home ;  she  has  been  no  com- 
panion or  helpmate  to  me,  and  now  she  is  destroying 
my  children,  body  and  soul.  You  will  hardly  believe 
it,  but  I  discovered  the  other  day  that  she  had  been 
putting  Molly,  who  is  just  twelve,  into  corsets.  She 
had  forbidden  the  child  to  tell  me,  but  I  found  the 
little  thing  crying  one  evening,  and  I  coaxed  her  to  tell 
me  what  was  the  matter.  I  give  you  my  word,  Dormer, 


234  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

the  infernal  things  were  laced  tight,  and  there  was  the 
mark  of  the  whalebone  in  red  lines  on  Molly's  flesh.  I 
spoke  to  Maria  as  quietly  as  I  could,  and  explained  to 
her  the  fearful  mischief  she  might  cause,  in  language 
that  you  would  have  thought  a  child  could  understand, 
but  it  was  no  use.  She  answered  all  my  arguments  with 
the  assertion  that  a  mother  must  know  best  how  to  dress 
her  daughter,  and  that  she  could  not  allow  Molly  to 
grow  up  with  a  figure  like  a  sack.  That  was  the  finish- 
ing stroke ;  but  there  are  other  things  as  bad  or  worse. 
The  two  nursery  children  are  taught  to  be  greedy,  de- 
ceitful, and  disobedient,  and  as  their  nurse  is  changed 
about  once  in  two  months  they  never  have  any  proper 
discipline.  Maria  can  only  manage  them  by  bribing 
them  with  sweets  that  ruin  their  teeth  and  their  diges- 
tions. The  elder  ones  have  improved  under  Miss  Jef- 
freys, but  now  Miss  Jeffreys  is  to  be  dismissed  because 
Maria  thinks  that  I  am  too  polite  to  her.  Good  God  ! 
Dormer,  I  wonder  I  haven't  been  driven  out  of  my 
senses." 

"  I  had  no  idea  of  all  this,"  said  Miles,  quite  over- 
whelmed by  this  sudden  outburst  from  his  quiet  little 
brother-in-law.  "  Of  course  I  knew  you  changed  your 
servants  pretty  often,  but  I  thought  that  was  because 
Maria  was  too  clever  for  them,  and  always  found  them 


A  STUDY  IX  PREJUDICES.  235 

out  while  other  women  were  hoodwinked.  But  if 
things  are  as  you  say,  why  don't  you  put  your  foot 
down,  and  make  an  end  of  it  ?  " 

"  Because  at  the  first  hint  of  fault-finding  Maria 
goes  into  hysterics,  and  if  you  had  ever  seen  or  heard 
Maria  in  hysterics  you  would  not  wonder  at  my  weak- 
ness. No,  I  lie  awake  at  nights  and  turn  over  plans  for 
rescuing  the  children,  but  in  the  morning  none  of  them 
seem  feasible.  I  have  thought  of  escaping  to  America 
or  the  Antipodes  with  the  five  poor  little  things,  and 
bringing  them  up  there  under  a  false  name.  And  I 
have  thought  of  jumping  into  the  Thames  and  leaving 
directions  in  my  will  for  the  children  to  be  entrusted 
to  the  care  of  competent  guardians,  and  their  mother 
only  allowed  to  visit  them  once  a  month,  on  pain  of 
losing  her  income  if  she  disobeys  my  wishes.  Some- 
times I  have  almost  summoned  up  courage  to  propose 
to  her  that  we  shall  place  all  the  children  in  schools  and 
institutions,  and  agree  to  see  them  only  at  stated  inter- 
vals. But  I  know  that  it  would  be  useless.  She  could 
never  be  made  to  understand  her  own  incompetence 
through  that  impenetrable  crust  of  ignorant  self-con- 
ceit. And,  after  all,  she  is  their  mother ;  she  suffered 
the  pains  of  bearing  them,  they  are  a  part  of  her  very 
self.  What  right  have  I  to  take  her  own  flesh  and 


236  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

blood  from  her,  and  yet  what  right  have  I  to  stand  by 
and  see  their  young  lives  ruined  ?  It  is  a  terrible  prob- 
lem, and  one  that  is  too  hard  for  me  to  solve." 

"  Nonsense,"  said  Miles  sharply.  "  Assert  yourself — 
show  that  you  are  master  in  your  own  house.  If  Maria 
goes  into  hysterics,  throw  a  jug  of  water  over  her.  She 
will  like  and  respect  you  all  the  more.  Send  the  elder 
children  to  school,  and  get  a  nursery  governess  for  the 
younger  ones." 

"  I  will  do  my  best  to  follow  your  advice,"  said  the 
poor  little  gentleman,  who  looked  all  the  better  for 
having  relieved  his  mind.  "  But  it  is  so  easy  for  an- 
other man  to  talk  like  that,  especially  for  the  husband 
of  a  woman  like  your  Cecily.  Ah,  you  have  a  jewel  of 
a  wife  in  her,  you  lucky  fellow !  To  go  to  your  house 
from  mine  is  like  going  from  purgatory  to  paradise. 
Everything  here  is  so  sweet  and  clean,  and  the  servants 
always  have  cheerful  faces ;  whereas  at  home,  the  ban- 
nisters are  sticky,  there  is  a  smell  of  boiled  cabbage  all 
over  the  house,  and  the  maids  are  either  sulky  or  in 
tears.  Here  I  am  welcomed  by  a  nice  woman  all  smiles 
and  brightness,  there  by  a  scolding  fool.  Of  course  I 
know  that  your  wife  is  not  a  blue  stocking,  but  she 
seems  to  have  intelligence  enough  to  do  well  anything 
she  gives  her  mind  to,  and  it  is  a  treat  to  talk  to  her  on 


A  STUDY   IX   PREJUDICES.  237 

any  subject,  whether  she  knows  anything  about  it  or 
not,  because  she  takes  such  an  interest  in  all  you  tell 
her,  and  understands  what  you  mean  almost  before 
you've  said  it.  You  may  congratulate  yourself  upon 
having  drawn  the  gros  lot  in  the  marriage  lottery." 

Miles  hesitated  for  a  moment. 

"  I  may  as  well  tell  you  now,"  he  said,  curtly,  "  that 
Cecily  and  I  have  agreed  to  part  for  a  time  at  any  rate. 
I  start  for  Norway  to-morrow,  and  I  cannot  tell  when  I 
shall  return." 

"  What ! "  shouted  Mr.  Bingley,  springing  up  from 
his  chair.  "  You  have  driven  that  dear  woman  away 
from  you  !  for  you  needn't  talk  to  me  about '  agreeing 
to  part.'  She  worshipped  the  ground  you  walked  on, 
and  would  never  have  left  you  of  her  own  free  will. 
Good  heavens,  man!  what  could  you  be  thinking  of? 
Were  you  mad  ?  " 

"Not  that  I  am  aware  of,"  replied  Miles  coldly. 
"  Cecily  had  disappointed  me,  and  she  had  the  sense  to 
see  that  it  would  be  better  for  me  to  go  away  by  myself 
for  a  time,  until  I  could  get  over  the  shock  of  disil- 
lusionment. Of  course  this  is  quite  between  our- 
selves." 

"  Disappointed  you  !  "  repeated  Mr.  Bingley.  "  Well, 
I  should  like  to  know  what  you  expected,  or  what  you 


238  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

thought  you  deserved.  However,  there's  some  small 
consolation  for  me  in  your  trouble.  If  you  could  not 
find  happiness  in  marriage  with  a  woman  like  Cecily,  it 
must  be  useless  for  any  man  to  expect  it,  and  I  may  as 
well  make  the  best  of  Maria." 


CHAPTER  XX. 

AT  Ilfracombe  the  days  glided  quietly  by.  Cecily's 
stay  at  Combe  Cottage  had  extended  over  nearly  three 
months  when  Miss  Redd  appeared  one  morning  in  a 
gown  of  rusty  black,  and  announced  that  poor  mother 
was  dead  at  last,  and  that  the  funeral  was  to  take  place 
on  the  following  Friday.  She  hoped  that  Mrs.  Miles 
would  not  mind  being  left  to  tb.3  care  of  Jane  for  one 
night.  Cecily  soon  reassured  her  on  that  point,  and 
after  a  few  words  of  sympathy,  inquired  whether  Miss 
Rhoda  would  return  to  the  cottage  after  the  funeral. 
In  the  midst  of  her  decorous  emotion,  Miss  Susan  could 
not  resist  a  sarcasm  at  the  expense  of  her  envied  elder 
sister,  but  replied,  with  her  habitual  sniff,  that  the 
mistress  of  the  house  would  return  with  her,  and  that 
then  everybody  would  be  put  in  their  proper  places. 

Cecily  felt  a  gleam  of  pleasure  at  the  prospect  of 
Rhoda's  advent,  for  she  looked  forward  to  receiving 
help  and  comfort  from  the  sweet-faced  original  of  the 

16  289 


2iO  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

photograph.  Nor  was  she  disappointed.  Rhoda,  her 
gentle  eyes  swollen  with  weeping,  her  comely  face  worn 
with  watching,  was  not  too  much  absorbed  in  her  own 
grief  to  take  a  motherly  interest  in  her  young  lodger, 
and  from  the  moment  she  entered  the  house,  Cecily  felt 
that  in  the  new  arrival  she  had  found  a  kind  and  capa- 
ble friend.  Although  Rhoda  was  homely  of  speech  and 
could  boast  but  little  learning,  there  was  nothing  unre- 
fined about  her  mind  or  her  manners,  while  her  unas- 
suming simplicity  and  sound  common  sense  made  her 
society  eminently  soothing  and  agreeable. 

By  the  end  of  a  week  Cecily  and  her  new  acquaint- 
ance were  upon  quite  confidential  terms.  Rhoda  had 
told  her  young  lodger  all  about  her  mother's  last  illness, 
her  brother's  troubles  with  his  farm,  and  some  of  her 
own  experiences  with  eccentric  boarders,  while  Cecily 
had  been  unable  to  refrain  from  confiding  in  Rhoda 
certain  of  her  hopes  and  anxieties,  and  had  even  made 
up  her  mind  that  very  soon  she  would  indulge 
herself  with  a  casual  mention  of  Miles's  name  when 
there  seemed  every  probability  that  Rhoda  would 
enlarge  upon  the  fascinating  theme.  Her  sense  of 
desolation  was  already  lightened  by  her  intercourse 
with  so  sensible  and  sympathetic  a  soul.  Rhoda  saved 
her  all  trouble  about  ordering  her  meals,  gave  her 


A   STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

practical  hints  about  her  health,  and  trotted  in  and  ont 
of  the  room  at  all  hours  with  cups  of  tea,  basins  of 
broth,  and  little  saucers  of  jelly.  Cecily  gratefully 
accepted  these  attentions  for  the  sake  of  the  friendly 
presence  whose  very  nearness  was  a  comfort  to  her,  and 
the  pleasant  voice  that  never  uttered  any  but  cheering 
words.  It  was  so  sweet  to  be  petted  and  cared  for 
again  after  her  long  months  of  loneliness  and  isolation. 

The  only  drawback  to  this  new  friendship  was  the 
fact  that  Miss  Susan's  temper  seemed  to  have  un- 
dergone a  decided  change  for  the  worse.  She  had 
never  made  any  effort  herself  to  win  her  lodger's  liking, 
yet  she  was  obviously  jealous  of  the  regard  which  Cecily 
bestowed  upon  Rhoda.  Her  chronic  discontent  grew 
more  pronounced,  and  she  complained  bitterly  of 
having  to  do  the  whole  work  of  the  house,  while  her 
sister  sat  like  a  lady  in  the  parlour.  As  there  was  very 
little  work  to  do,  and  as  Rhoda  took  more  than  her 
share  of  that  little,  these  complaints  received  but  scant 
attention  from  the  offending  persons. 

One  evening,  about  a  fortnight  after  her  return, 
when  Rhoda  had  finished  clearing  away  her  lodger's 
supper  things,  Cecily  called  her  back  as  she  was  leaving 
the  room. 

"  Stay  and  talk  to  me  a  little,"  she  said.     "  I  am  so 


242  A  STUDY  IN  PKEJUDICES. 

tired  of  being  alone.  Sit  down  and  tell  •  me  about  your 
home,  and  what  you  did  when  you  were  a  girl.  Didn't 
you  say  your  father's  farm  was  on  Exmoor  ?  " 

"  Just  on  the  borders,  ma'am.  He  had  a  right  to 
pasture  a  certain  number  of  ponies  and  cows  on  the 
moor." 

"  "What  was  the  name  of  the  place  ?  " 

"The  village  was  called  Tarracombe,  but  our 
farm  was  in  an  outlying  hamlet.  It  was  a  lonely 
place." 

"  Tarracombe !  I  know  a  gentleman  who  used  to 
live  there  when  he  was  a  boy,  Mr. — Mr.  Dormer.  Did 
you  ever  see  him  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Khoda,  stooping  to  pick  up  her  ball 
of  worsted,  which  had  rolled  along  the  ground.  "  He 
used  to  come  and  play  with  my  brothers  when  he  was 
at  home  for  his  holidays." 

"  Was  he — was  he  a  nice  boy  ?  "  asked  Cecily,  trying 
to  keep  her  voice  steady.  "  It  is  so  difficult  to  realise 
that  a  clever  man  like  Mr.  Dormer  was  ever  a  boy, 
playing  pranks  and  getting  into  mischief." 

"He  was  a  very  nice  young  gentleman,"  replied 
Rhoda,  raising  a  flushed  face  from  her  search  for  the 
ball.  "  He  used  to  come  and  help  gather  the  apples  for 
the  cider  sometimes,  and  he  was  always  kind  to  us  girls. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  243 

He  would  shake  the  trees  for  us,  and  he  never  allowed 
the  other  boys  to  be  rough  with  us." 

"Ah,  I  can  quite  believe  that,"  exclaimed  Cecily 
with  shining  eyes.  "Always  thoughtful  and  con- 
siderate just  as  he  is  now,  except — except  when  people 
are  thoroughly  undeserving.  Did  you  ever  see  him 
after  he  grew  up  ?  " 

"  Yes.  The  family  left  Tarracombe  before  he  went 
to  college,  but  some  years  afterwards  he  came  back  to 
spend  the  summer  at  our  farm.  He  wasn't  well  when 
he  came,  and  it  turned  out  that  he  had  typhoid  fever. 
It  was  a  long  illness,  and  mother  and  I  nursed  him 
through  it." 

"  Oh,  how  lucky  he  was  to  have  a  good,  kind  woman 

like  you  to  nurse  him,"  exclaimed  Cecily.  "  I  wish" 

she  broke  off  abruptly,  for  her  sentence  would  have  run, 
"  I  wish  I  had  been  there  to  help."  "  Have  you  seen 
him  often  since?"  she  continued. 

"Sometimes,"  replied  Khoda.  "He  was  kind  to 
us  in  our  troubles,  and  helped  us  to  set  up  in  this 
house." 

Here  the  conversation  was  interrupted  by  the  en- 
trance of  Susan,  who  was  evidently  in  one  of  her 
worst  humours. 

"Are   you    ever   coming   to   supper,  Rhoda?"  she 


244  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

asked  wrathfully.     "Here  have   I  been  left  alone  all 
the  evening  while  you  sit  gossiping  here." 

"  You  musn't  scold  your  sister,"  put  in  Cecily 
pleasantly,  for  the  mere  fact  that  she  had  been  talk- 
ing about  Miles  was  sufficient  to  put  her  in  good 
spirits.  "  It  is  iny  fault  for  keeping  her.  We  have 
had  a  little  chat  about  a  friend  of  hers  and  mine,  Mr. 
Dormer." 

Susan  cast  a  vixenish  glance  at  her  sister,  and  her 
red  face  took  a  deeper  shade. 

"Friend  indeed!"  she  snapped.  "A  fine  friend 
he's  been  to  her  and  the  rest  of  us.  If  it  hadn't  been 
for  him  we  might  be  living  on  our  own  land  now, 
instead  of  demeaning  ourselves  by  taking  in  lodg- 
ers." 

"  Susan,  Susan,"  put  in  Rhoda  in  warning  tones, 
"  Mr.  Dormer  is  a  great  friend  of  Mrs.  Miles." 

"  I  don't  care  whose  friend  he  is,"  cried  the  angry 
woman,  losing  all  control  over  her  tongue.  "  I  only 
know  he  brought  nothing  but  shame  and  ruin  upon  us. 
I  wonder  you  should  be  the  one  to  defend  him,  Rhoda. 
I  suppose  you  think  money  makes  amends  for  every- 
thing." 

Cecily  looked  from  one  to  the  other  with  blanched 
cheeks  and  dilated  eyes. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  245 

"What  does  it  all  mean?  What  is  she  talking 
about? "she  asked  in  trembling  tones. 

"Oh,  Susan,  what  have  you  done?"  said  Rhoda 
sadly.  "  What  good  can  it  do  you  or  anyone  else  to 
rake  up  what  is  past  and  gone  ? " 

"  Well,  I  wonder  you  can  make  so  light  of  what 
broke  father's  heart,  and  made  us  all  a  byword  to  our 
neighbours,"  returned  Susan  defiantly. 

"  Miss  Redd,"  said  Cecily,  suddenly  recovering  her 
self-possession,  "will  you  kindly  leave  your  sister  and 
me  alone  for  a  few  minutes  ?  I  wish  to  speak  to  her 
in  private." 

Cowed  by  the  authoritativeness  of  her  lodger's  tone 
and  manner,  Miss  Susan  went  muttering  out  of  the 
room,  and  banged  the  door  behind  her. 

"Now,"  said  Cecily,  turning  to  Rhoda,  who  stood 
before  her  with  bent  head  and  downcast  eyes,  "  tell 
me  what  all  this  means.  What  is  Mr.  Dormer  to 
you?" 

"  I  suppose  it's  no  use  trying  to  hide  it  from  you 
now,"  said  Rhoda  slowly.  "  You  have  heard  too  much 
to  rest  satisfied  without  hearing  more.  But,  remember, 
it  all  happened  long  before  Miles — Mr.  Dormer  knew 
you.  It  is  an  old  story  now." 

"  What  is  an  old  story  now  ? "  asked  Cecily,  with- 


24:6  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

out  noticing  the  allusion  to  her  own  relations  with 
Miles. 

"  Well,  that  when  he  got  better  of  his  illness,  and 
was  going  back  to  London  Mr.  Dormer  asked  me  to  go 
with  him,  and — and  I  went." 

"Miles  was  your  lover?"  murmured  Cecily  in 
scarcely  audible  tones. 

"I  suppose  he  must  have  been  fond  of  me  in  a 
way.  You  see  he  was  still  weak  and  ailing,  and  he 
had  got  used  to  me.  1  understood  how  to  take  care 
of  him  and  make  him  comfortable." 

"  And  you  loved  him  ?  " 

"  I  would  have  given  my  life  for  him  if  it  would 
have  done  him  any  good,"  replied  Rhoda  simply.  "  I 
did  more  than  that ;  I  sacrificed  father,  mother,  home 
and  good  name  for  him.  They  said  the  shame  broke 
father's  heart  when  I  went  away.  He  took  no  more 
interest  in  anything,  and  let  the  farm  go  to  ruin,  so 
that  it  had  to  be  sold  when  he  died.  He  forgave  me  at 
the  last,  though,  and  when  mother  was  dying  she 
would  have  nobody  but  me  to  nurse  her." 

"And  Miles?"  put  in  Cecily  impatiently,  for  she 
could  attend  to  no  other  part  of  the  story.  "  You  lived 
with  Miles?" 

"  He  took  a  little  house  for  me  near  Bedford  Park," 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  247 

went  on  Rhoda,  "  and  though  he  kept  on  his  chambers 
in  town  he  spent  most  of  his  spare  time  with  me.  In 
the  summer  we  went  away  somewhere  into  the  country. 
Ah,  I  know  it  was  selfish  and  wicked,  but  I  was  very 
happy  all  the  same.  People  tell  lies  when  they  say  you 
can't  be  happy  unless  you're  good.  The  knowledge 
that  you  are  sacrificing  your  very  soul  to  your  lover 
makes  your  love  all  the  stronger,  and  your  happiness  all 
the  deeper.  And  then  you  don't  know  what  it  is, 
ma'am,  for  a  girl  who  has  only  associated  with  common 
men  to  have  a  gentleman  for  a  lover.  All  a  gentle- 
man's little  ways,  his  talk,  his  politeness,  the  very  tones 
of  his  voice  have  more  power  over  her  than  ever  his 
money  could  have." 

"  But  how — how  long  ?  "  gasped  Cecily. 

"  We  were  together,  off  and  on,  for  nearly  three 
years.  Of  course,  I  knew  it  couldn't  last.  I  knew  he 
would  tire  of  me,  sooner  or  later,  because  I  wasn't  a 
lady,  nor  educated  enough  to  be  a  companion  to  him. 
But  he  was  very  good  to  me  from  first  to  last.  He  was 
working  hard  at  his  newspaper  and  play-writing  at 
that  time,  and  he  used  to  say  that  it  rested  him  to 
come  home  to  some  one  who  was  not  clever  in  a  book- 
learned  way.  But  the  third  winter  he  came  less  and 
less  often,  and  I  could  see  that  he  was  beginning  to 


24:8  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

weary  of  me.  He  was  stronger  iu  health  then,  and  so 
he  didn't  need  me  to  look  after  him  and  take  care  of 
him  any  more.  When  I  saw  how  it  was  I  said  we  had 
better  part,  and  though  he  was  angry  at  first  he  came 
round  after  a  bit,  and  said  I  must  do  as  I  pleased." 

"  How  long  ago  ?  "  asked  Cecily. 

"  Five  years.  He  wanted  me  to  keep  the  house  on 
and  take  an  allowance  from  him,  but  I  said  I  would 
rather  do  something  to  earn  my  living  and  help  my 
sister,  because  the  home  was  broken  up  by  that  time. 
So  he  set  me  up  in  this  house,  and  he  has  always  been 
ready  to  help  me  if  I  was  in  any  difficulty.  He  came 
down  here  only  last  winter  to  settle  a  trouble  with  the 
landlord.  That  was  when  I  first  saw  you.  I  knew  he 
had  his  wife  with  him,  and  I  went  to  the  station  and 
saw  you  go  away.  There  was  no  doubt  about  his  being 
in  love  with  you,  ma'am,  and  I'm  sure  he'd  make  a  good 
husband  to  a  lady  like  you,  who  could  talk  to  him  and 
understand  all  he  was  thinking  about." 

Cecily  made  no  reply.  She  was  sitting  quite  still, 
with  a  strange  inward  look  in  her  eyes. 

"  You  won't  let  what  I  have  told  you  set  you  against 
him,  will  you  ?  "  pleaded  Bhoda.  "  He's  not  a  bad  man, 
you  know,  not  like  some  of  them.  He  was  kind  to  me 
even  after  he  was  tired  of  me,  when  many  men  would. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  249 

have  turned  me  into  the  streets,  and  never  cared  what 
became  of  me.  You  won't  be  hard  on  him,  will  yon, 
dear  ma'am  ?  because  I'm  sure  you  love  each  other,  and 
there's  the  child  coming  and  all.  Say  you  will  forgive 
him." 

To  Rhoda's  consternation  Cecily  suddenly  broke  into 
a  wild  peal  of  laughter. 

"  Forgive  him  ! "  she  cried.  "  Don't  you  know  that 
he  thinks  himself  the  ninety-and-nine  just  persons  who 
need  no  forgiveness  rolled  into  one?  He  is  the  lineal 
descendant  of  the  prodigal's  blameless  elder  brother, 
and  of  the  Pharisee  who  thanked  Heaven  that  he  was 
not  as  other  men  were.  If  he  had  been  present  when 
the  woman  taken  in  adultery  was  brought  before  Christ 
he  would  not  have  hesitated  to  cast  the  first  stone." 

Her  speech  was  interrupted  by  another  uncontrol- 
lable spasm  of  laughter,  while  Rhoda  stood  by  in  silent 
dismay. 

"  Oh,  he  is  a  model  of  masculine  virtue,"  went  on 
Cecily  as  soon  as  she  had  recovered  her  breath.  "  I 
have  always  looked  up  to  him  as  a  saint  and  a  hero, 
and  meekly  borne  all  his  anger  and  contempt  because 
I  felt  that  I  was  unworthy  of  such  a  piece  of  perfection. 
And  I  have  been  trying  to  improve  myself  so  as  to  be- 
come more  worthy  of  him,  and  even  looking  forward 


250  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

cheerfully  to  the  pains  of  hell  because  I  hoped  that  the 
child  would  bring  us  together  again.  It  is  all  so  funny, 
I  believe  it  will  kill  me  with  laughing.  Oh,  Rhoda,  I 
can't  stop  laughing.  Help  me — I  can't  get  my  breath 
— I  am  going  to  die ! " 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

MILES  set  out  upon  his  travels  with  a  heavy  heart, 
•which  he  fondly  hoped  would  become  lighter  when  he 
had  put  a  few  thousand  miles  between  himself  and  the 
scene  of  his  misfortunes.  But  it  soon  became  apparent 
to  him  that,  travel  as  far  and  as  fast  as  he  would 
whether  by  rail,  coach,  or  steamer,  he  could  not  out- 
distance memory  nor  leave  thought  behind.  After  the 
close  companionship  in  which  he  had  lived  during  the 
past  year,  solitude  seemed  a  strange  and  dismal  thing, 
and  he  found  himself  continually  comparing  his  pres- 
ent experiences  with  those  of  his  last  tour,  when  his 
pleasure  in  beautiful  landscapes  or  ancient  buildings, 
and  his  interest  in  quaint  customs  or  types  of  character, 
had  been  more  than  doubled  by  the  fact  that  they  were 
shared  with  his  wife. 

And  yet  his  loneliness  was  not  the  worst  of  his 
sorrows.  As  a  murderer  is  sometimes  haunted  by  the 
apparition  of  his  victim,  so  Miles  was  haunted,  waking 

251 


252  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

and    sleeping,   by   Cecily's    eyes    and    Cecily's    voice. 
Night  after  night  he  endured  the  Tantalus  sufferings 

of  the  widower, 

"  When  he  sees 

A  late-lost  form  that  sleep  reveals, 
And  moves  his  doubtful  arms,  and  feels 
Her  place  is  empty." 

He  decided  at  length  that  he  wanted  a  companion, 
that  it  was  always  a  mistake  for  a  man  to  travel  alone. 
Accordingly,  he  persuaded  an  acquaintance  whom  he 
had  met  at  Christiana  to  accompany  him  on  a  trip  to 
the  land  of  the  midnight  sun.  But  the  travelling 
companion  turned  out  a  most  disappointing  failure. 
He  had  always  seemed  a  good  enough  fellow  during 
casual  interviews  at  the  club,  but  now  Miles  discovered 
him  to  be  a  little  dense,  more  than  a  little  selfish, 
strangely  unsympathetic,  and  possessed  of  several  irri- 
tating tricks.  A  hundred  times  a  day  he  caught  him- 
self comparing  his  present  companion  with  his  former 
one,  who  was  never  dense,  never  selfish,  who  always  en- 
tered into  her  husband's  interests,  and  had  no  fidgety 
tricks. 

As  the  sense  of  blank  grew  and  deepened  Miles's 
resentment  against  his  wife  gradually  cooled,  and  the 
wound  to  his  vanity  began  to  heal.  When  he  left 
England  he  had  set  no  limit  in  his  own  mind  to  the 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  253 

period  over  which  his  absence  should  be  prolonged. 
But  now  as  time  passed  on,  and  the  tugging  at  his 
heart-strings  grew  ever  more  intolerable,  he  began  to 
ask  himself  whether  he  had  not  been  just  a  little  hard 
upon  his  wife,  who  might  not  be  the  white-souled  saint 
he  once  had  thought  her,  but  whose  love  it  was  impos- 
sible to  doubt,  and  who  held  his  peace  and  happiness 
in  her  hand.  Of  course  she  had  been  thoughtless  and 
imprudent,  but  her  girlish  crimes  grew  less  black  with 
every  hour  that  he  spent  away  from  her.  It  became 
so  easy  to  find  excuses  for  her  too.  She  had  no 
mother,  poor  child ;  she  had  grown  up  in  a  fast  set ; 
her  sisters  had  set  her  a  bad  example.  He  himself 
was  partly  to  blame,  no  doubt ;  he  had  expected  too 
much,  had  fancied  that  his  wife  must  needs  be  a  fault- 
less paragon  instead  of  a  creature  of  ordinary  flesh  and 
blood.  But  had  not  her  punishment  lasted  long 
enough ;  would  she  not  by  this  time  have  learnt  a 
salutary  lesson  ?  Presently  this  vague  questioning  re- 
solved itself  into  a  determination  to  return  to  London 
at  the  end  of  three  months  from  the  day  on  which  he 
had  quitted  it,  and  straightway  to  reconcile  himself 
with  his  wife.  Perhaps  he  would  have  gone  at  once  if 
it  had  not  been  for  his  comfortable  conviction  that  he 
would  find  no  difficulty  in  making  his  peace  with 


254  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

Cecily,  that  he  had  only  to  whistle  to  her  and  she 
would  fly  to  his  arms  like  a  bird  at  the  voice  of  the 
charmer. 

By  the  exercise  of  a  vast  amount  of  resolution  and 
self-control,  Miles  succeeded  in  remaining  abroad  for 
the  full  period  of  three  months,  and  only  set  foot  in 
England  on  the  exact  day  that  he  had  fixed  for  his 
return.  His  heart  felt  as  light  as  a  boy's  when  he 
found  himself  once  more  in  London,  and  even  the 
sight  of  his  own  empty  house  and  shrouded  furniture 
had  no  power  to  damp  his  delight  at  the  thought  that 
soon  he  would  clasp  his  forgiven  wife  in  his  arms.  His 
feelings  of  happy  anticipation  received  a  sudden  check, 
however,  when  he  learnt  that  no  news  had  been  re- 
ceived of  Cecily  either  by  her  sister  or  his  bankers. 
His  spirits  sank  as  he  realised  that  it  might  not  be 
such  an  easy  matter  to  recall  the  exile  after  all. 

He  shrank  from  the  idea  of  employing  an  agent  to 
discover  his  wife's  hiding-place,  and  after  a  few  days 
spent  in  fruitless  inquiries,  he  chose  the  lesser  evil  of 
putting  an  advertisement  in  the  daily  papers  requesting 
C.  D.  to  communicate  with  M.  D.  The  advertisement 
appeared  between  an  appeal  for  the  return  of  a  fox- 
terrier  answering  to  the  name  of  Spot,  and  an  offer  of 
five  pounds  reward  for  a  diamond  star  dropped  in  the 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  £55 

promenade  of  the  Alhambra.  The  whole  proceeding 
offended  his  taste,  and  reminded  him  of  an  incident  in 
his  literary  bugbear,  a  sensation  novel ;  but,  failing 
a  detective,  he  did  not  see  what  else  could  be 
done. 

Two  days  passed,  during  which  he  awaited  the 
arrival  of  every  post  with  heart-sick  longing,  but  no 
answer  came  to  his  advertisement.  On  the  third  morn- 
ing, as  he  was  sitting  alone  in  his  study  trying  to  forget 
his  anxiety  over  the  reading  of  proofs,  the  caretaker  put 
her  untidy  head  in  at  the  door,  and  announced  : 
"  A  lady  to  see  you,  sir." 

Miles  sprang  to  his  feet  and  hurried  forward  with 
eager  face   and   outstretched   hands,   but   he    stopped 
short  in  bitter   disappointment  as    Mrs.    Marchmont 
entered   the  room.      The  next    moment,  however,   it 
occurred  to  him  that  his  visitor  might  have  brought 
some  tidings  of  his  wife,  but  this  hope  too  was  speedily 
dispelled,   for  Mrs.  Marchmont,  without  noticing  the 
hand  he  offered  her,  demanded  sternly  : 
"  What  have  you  done  with  Cecily  ?  " 
Miles's  face  fell  as  he  stammered  out : — 
"  You  don't  know  where  she  is  then  ?  " 
"  I !    No,  I  know  nothing.     We  only  returned  to 
towD  yesterday,  and  I  was  told  that  you  had  left  your 

IT 


256  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

wife.     Do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  don't  know  what 
has  become  of  her  ?  " 

"  No,"  replied  Miles,  trying  to  meet  her  eyes.  "  But 
I  am  looking  for  her.  I  have  put  an  advertisement  in 
the  paper  asking  her  to  return." 

"  How  noble  of  you,"  said  Mrs.  Marchmont  con- 
temptuously. "  Of  course  I  know  nothing  of  the 
reasons  of  your  separation,  but  I  take  it  for  granted 
that  Cecily  did  not  leave  you  of  her  own  accord. 
When  last  I  saw  her  she  was  perfectly  infatuated  about 
you." 

"  No,  it  was  my  doing,"  replied  Miles  gloomily. 
"  There  were  reasons — I  thought  it  better  we  should 
part,  at  least  for  a  time." 

,  "  You  thought  it  better,"  repeated  his  visitor  with 
ironical  emphasis.  "  Oh,  I  have  no  doubt  your  reasons 
for  casting  off  your  wife  were  excellent.  I  suppose  she 
had  committed  the  crime  of  not  admiring  you  suffi- 
ciently, or  perhaps  she  had  refused  to  give  up  some  old 
friend  at  your  bidding." 

"  I  don't  know  what  right  you  have  to  speak  to  me 
like  that,"  said  Miles.  "  I  did  not  cast  my  wife  off.  I 
told  her  she  could  remain  here  while  I  was  abroad,  or 
live  where  she  pleased  on  an  allowance  from  me.  As 
for  my  reasons  for  separating  from  her  I  can  assure  you 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  257 

that  they  were  not  what  you  so  kindly  attribute  to  me. 
Cecily  never  refused  any  request  of  mine,  and  she 
always  admired  me  a  thousand  times  more  than  I 
deserved." 

"  Then  why  in  the  name  of  folly  and  cruelty  did 
you  leave  her  ?  " 

"  Because  I  made  a  discovery  about  her,  a  discovery 
which  will  probably  be  no  news  to  you.  I  found  that 
she  was  not  what  I  thought  her,  that  I  had  been 
deceived  in  her  character  and  antecedents." 

"Good  heavens!  what  are  you  talking  about?" 
exclaimed  Mrs.  Marchmont.  "  If  you  mean  that  Cecily 
was  unworthy  of  being  your  wife,  that  is  certainly  news 
to  me." 

"  I  mean,"  said  Miles,  keeping  his  temper  with  an 
effort,  "  I  mean  that  when  I  married  her  I  believed  her 
to  be  a  modest,  innocent  girl,  but  afterwards  I  discovered 
accidentally  that " 

"  Well,  what  ?  "  demanded  his  visitor  impatiently. 

"That  she  had  had  other  lovers  before  me,"  he 
concluded  solemnly. 

Mrs.  Marchmont  burst  into  a  fit  of  angry  laugh- 
ter. 

"  So  that  was  the  portentous  discovery.  And  pray, 
did  you  imagine  that  it  was  possible  to  marry  a  beauti- 


258  A   STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

f ul  girl  of  two-and-twenty  who  had  never  had  a  lover  ? 
Did  you  think  that  all  men  were  blind  except  your- 
eslf  ?  " 

"I  mean  lovers  whom  she  had  encouraged,"  re- 
turned Miles ;  "  to  whom  she  had  allowed  familiarities 
that  she  should  only  have  permitted  to  the  man  she 
intended  to  marry.  When  I  questioned  her  upon  the 
subject  the  day  that  we  became  engaged,  she  assured 
me  that  I  was  the  first  man  who  had  ever  kissed  her, 
but  long  afterwards  I  learned  from  her  own  lips  that 
she  had  deliberately  deceived  me." 

"Ah,"  said  Mrs.  Marchmont  gravely,  "that  was 
very  wrong  of  her  certainly;  she  had  no  business  to 
sacrifice  truth  to  love,  and  I  don't  wish  to  defend  her 
conduct  in  other  respects.  She  was  a  flirt,  no  doubt ; 
all  the  Tregarthen  girls  were  flirts,  as  their  mother  was 
before  them,  but  their  indiscretions  were  the  result  of 
soft  hearts  and  high  spirits,  never  of  deliberate  cold- 
blooded coquetry.  Cecily  had  no  one  to  tell  her  that 
her  behaviour  was  foolish  or  worse,  that  she  might  be 
wronging  the  real  lover  of  the  future.  Of  course  if  you 
expected  your  wife's  mind  to  be  a  piece  of  blank 
paper  I  can  understand  that  you  must  have  been 
annoyed  to  find  it  a  sheet  of  manuscript  scrawled  over 
with  the  beginnings  of  half  a  dozen  romances.  I  sup- 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  259 

pose  that  the  book  of  your  own  life  contains  nothing 
but  fly-leaves." 

"  I  don't  see  what  that  has  to  do  with  the  matter." 

"  No  ?  Well,  not  much  perhaps,  from  the  mascu- 
line point  of  view.  But  there  are  one  or  two  ques- 
tions I  should  like  to  ask  you,  and  if  you  answer  them 
truthfully  I  will  promise  to  help  you  to  get  back 
your  wife,  which  may  not  be  so  easy  a  matter  as  you 
imagine.  Have  you  any  good  reason  for  believing  that 
Cecily  deceived  you  after  your  marriage  ?  " 

"  No ;  at  least  I  don't  think  so  now." 

"  Did  she  suit  you  as  a  wife  ?  Did  she  make  you 
happy  ?  " 

"  She  was  the  very  light  of  my  eyes,"  he  answered, 
speaking  as  though  the  words  were  wrung  from  his 
heart. 

"  Have  you  missed  her  since  you  parted  from 
her?" 

"  I  have  never  had  a  happy  moment  except  when 
I  was  asleep,  and  dreamed  that  she  had  come  back 
to  me." 

"Then,  you  poor  fool,  why  did  you  throw  away 
such  a  priceless  treasure?  When  a  human  being  steps 
out  from  the  indifferent  crowds  around  us,  and  bestows 
upon  us  a  faithful  and  unselfish  love,  what  are  we, 


260  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

even  the  best  of  us,  that  we  should  despise  that  being 
because  he  or  she  is  only  human,  and  reject  the  love 
because  the  lover  is  not  immaculate  ?  " 

She  paused,  but  Miles  did  not  answer  for  a  mo- 
ment. 

"  I  am  doing  my  best  to  find  her,"  he  said  at 
length. 

"  Yes,  but  how  do  you  know  that  you  may  not  be 
too  late?  She  may  have  discovered  that  it  was  not 
you  she  loved  but  an  ideal  of  her  own  creation,  or 
she  may  have  given  the  affection  that  you  threw  away 
to  one  who  would  value  it  more,  or — or  she  may  have 
died  in  exile." 

"  Don't — don't,"  exclaimed  Miles,  springing  to  his 
feet.  "  How  can  you  torture  me  with  such  cruel 
words  ?  If  you  have  any  friendship  for  her,  any  pity 
for  me,  help  me  to  find  her." 

"  I'll  do  my  best,"  said  Mrs.  Marchmont.  "  But  I 
must  know  exactly  how  the  case  stands.  You  say 
Cecily  had  money  when  she  went  away  ?  " 

"Yes,  a  hundred  pounds.  It  was  to  be  her  first 
quarter's  allowance." 

"  And  she  took  it  without  protest  though  you 
had  shown  her  that  you  thought  her  unfit  to  be 
your  wife  ?  " 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  261 

"She  took  the  money." 

"Then  now  I  am  sure  of  something  that  I  sus- 
pected before.  Cecily  would  have  starved  sooner 
than  take  you  money  if  she  had  had  only  herself  to 
think  of." 

Miles  stared  for  a  moment  in  blank  bewilderment. 

"  "What  do  you  mean  ?  "  he  asked. 

Then  a  light  seemed  to  break  in  upon  him,  for  in 
an  instant  his  face  turned  grey  and  haggard  like  the 
face  of  a  man  who  has  received  a  mortal  blow. 

"My  God!  what  have  I  done?"  he  cried,  putting 
his  hands  to  his  head.  "  What  have  I  done  ?  " 

"  You  have  left  the  woman  you  promised  to  love 
and  cherish  to  bear  her  trial  alone  among  strangers ; 
denied  her  the  protection  and  tenderness  that  only  the 
most  degraded  of  mankind  refuses  to  his  wife  at  such 
a  time." 

"  But  I  never  knew — I  never  suspected  it.  My  poor 
darling,  why  didn't  she  tell  me?  And  she  always 
dreaded  it — she  shrank  from  suffering ;  but  I  meant  to 
make  up  to  her  for  everything  by  my  love,  by  my  devo- 
tion. And  I  always  have  loved  her ;  it  was  my  cursed 
pride  and  folly  that  drove  me  away  from  her.  But  the 
thought  of  her  followed  me  wherever  I  went ;  I  could 
not  escape  from  it,  and  now  I  shall  never  rest,  never 


262  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

know  peace  or  happiness  again  until  I  have  found  her. 
Tell  me  what  I  must  do,"  he  demanded,  turning  upon 
his  visitor.  "  I  can't  wait  any  longer — I  must  go  to  her 
at  once." 

"  Well,  if  you  have  heard  nothing  from  her  by  to- 
morrow I  don't  see  what  you  can  do  but  employ  a  de- 
tective to  find  her.  It  is  the  quickest  and  surest  way. 
Let  me  know  as  soon  as  you  have  tidings  of  her,  and,  if 
you  wish  it,  I  will  go  with  you  to  fetch  her.  She  may 
be  glad  of  a  woman  friend." 

"  Thank  you,"  he  murmured  brokenly.  "  You 
are  very  good ;  I  am  sorry  I  judged  you  harshly 
before.  But  if  any  harm  has  come  to  my  darling, 
my  bitterest  enemy  need  wish  me  no  worse  punish- 
ment." 

"  Oh,  we  mustn't  anticipate  evil,"  said  Mrs.  March- 
mont.  "  Cecily  is  young  and  strong.  There  is  no  rea- 
son to  fear  that  anything  worse  than  suffering  has  be- 
fallen her,  and  that  is  never  supposed  to  harm  a 
woman." 

The  following  morning,  just  as  Miles  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  act  upon  Mrs.  Marchmont's  advice,  and  en- 
gage a  human  bloodhound  to  track  the  fugitive  to  her 
hiding-place,  he  received  a  telegram  from  Combe  Cot- 
tage, Ilfracombe,  containing  these  words  : 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  263 

"  Come  at  once.  Your  wife  is  here  and  ill.  R. 
REDD." 

Half  beside  himself  with  anxiety,  he  despatched  a 
telegram  to  Rhoda  to  say  that  he  would  start  by  the 
afternoon  express,  and  another  to  Mrs.  March  mont  to 
beg  her  to  meet  him  at  Paddington,  in  order  to  travel 
down  to  Ilfracombe,  where  Cecily  was  lying  ill. 

On  his  arrival  at  the  station  Miles  found  his  com- 
panion awaiting  him,  and  the  two  set  out  together  upon 
their  journey  with  heavy  hearts.  They  exchanged  but 
few  words,  for  Miles,  at  least,  had  ample  food  for  reflec- 
tion. First  and  foremost  came  the  sickening  doubt 
whether  he  should  find  his  wife  alive  on  his  arrival. 
The  thought  returned  again  and  again,  however  reso- 
lutely he  might  put  it  from  him.  Of  course  she  would 
be  alive,  he  assured  himself ;  Fate  would  never  be  so 
cruel  as  to  deprive  him  of  her  just  as  he  had  realised 
her  true  value  for  the  first  time,  and  was  looking  for- 
ward to  a  lifetime  of  happiness  at  her  side. 

But  even  if  she  were  living  and  on  the  road  to  re- 
covery, there  was  a  harrowing  possibility  that  her  love 
and  belief  in  him  might  bo  destroyed.  What  had  taken 
her  to  Ilfracombe  he  could  not  tell,  but  it  seemed  only 
too  likely  that  she  would  have  learnt  one  not  very 
creditable  chapter  of  his  past,  and  after  his  harsh  treat- 


264  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

ment  of  her  own  delinquencies  lie  felt  it  to  be  more 
than  doubtful  whether  her  faith  in  him  would  have 
stood  the  shock  of  the  revelation.  Women  have  such 
primitive  ideas  about  right  and  wrong,  he  reflected  ;  they 
imagine  that  it  is  as  easy  to  distinguish  good  from  evil 
as  black  from  white.  Cecily  was  probably  ignorant  of 
the  unwritten  law,  which  ordains  that  it  is  a  trivial 
error  for  a  man  to  ruin  a  woman,  but  an  unpardonable 
crime  for  a  woman  to  be  ruined  by  a  man. 

The  "  world- without-end  journey  "  was  over  at  last, 
and  Miles  and  his  companion  drove  through  the  sum- 
mer twilight  to  Combe  Cottage.  As  the  cab  stopped  at 
the  gate  the  eyes  of  both  travellers  turned  involuntarily 
to  the  windows,  and  both  drew  a  deep  breath  of  relief 
at  the  sight  of  the  unshrouded  panes.  Ehoda  opened 
the  door  to  them,  and  Miles  was  too  full  of  his  own  ab- 
sorbing anxiety  to  feel  any  embarrassment  at  this 
strange  meeting  with  his  old  love. 

"Is  she "  he  began  in  trembling  tones,  then 

changed  the  form  of  his  question  to,  "  how  is  she  ?  " 

"  Very  weak,"  was  the  reply.  "  But  the  doctor 
thinks  that  she  may  pull  through." 

"  Is  she  awake  ?    Can  I  see  her  ?  " 

"  She  would  like  to  see  the  lady  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,"  replied  Rhoda,  who  had  been  apprised  by  tele- 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  265 

graph  of  Mrs.  Marcbmont's  advent.  "  She  does  not  feel 
equal  to  seeing  you  to-night." 

Miles,  who  had  forgotten  all  about  his  companion, 
stepped  back,  feeling  as  though  his  wife  had  dealt  him 
a  blow  from  her  sick-bed.  She  must  indeed  be  ill  or 
changed  if  she  were  not  equal  to  seeing  him,  her  hus- 
band, her  lover.  At  Rhoda's  invitation  he  turned  into 
the  little  parlour,  and  sat  there  while  the  two  women 
went  upstairs  together.  All  around  him  were  signs  of 
Cecily's  recent  occupation  of  the  room,  her  books,  her 
work,  a  half-finished  sketch  upon  a  board,  yet  he  had 
never  felt  so  far  away  from  her  as  at  that  moment. 
Overhead  he  could  hear  footsteps  and  voices,  Mrs.  March- 
mont's  clear  tones  and  a  faint  murmur  in  reply,  a  mur- 
mur which  made  his  heart-strings  quiver  and  all  his 
pulses  throb. 

In  a  few  moments  he  was  joined  by  Rhoda. 

"  I  thought  the  ladies  would  like  to  be  left  alone," 
she  said,  "and  I  knew  you  would  be  anxious  to  hear 
about  your  wife." 

"Oh,  Rhoda,"  he  said  brokenly,  "you < were  always 
good  to  me,  though  I  behaved  cruelly  and  selfishly  to 
you.  You  won't  fail  me  now  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Rhoda  quietly,  "  I  have  done  my  best 
for  you." 


266  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  Does  she — does  Cecily  know  all  ?  " 
"  Yes ;   I  tried  to  keep  it  from  her,  but   Susan  let 
it  out,  and  then  I  had  to  tell  her  everything.     That 
was    what    made    her    so    ill.     Her    baby    was    born 
dead." 

"  Ah,  then  it  was  true.  My  poor  angel,  and  she  was 
all  alone.  No,  not  alone,  but  with  a  stranger  who  was 
kinder  to  her  than  her  own  husband.  When  was  it, 
Bhoda  ?  What  does  the  doctor  say  ?  " 

"  A  fortnight  ago.  He  thought  she  would  make  a 
quick  recovery,  because  she  has  a  good  constitution. 
But  she  does  not  get  any  stronger,  and  seems  to  have 
no  desire  to  live.  The  doctor  told  me  this  morning 
that  there  were  symptoms  he  did  not  like,  and  said 
something  about  shock  and  cerebral  disturbance.  He 
told  me  to  telegraph  to  you  on  the  chance  of  your 
being  in  London,  because  he  thought  that  your  coming 
might  rouse  her,  and  induce  her  to  take  more  inter- 
est in  life.  She  was  angry  at  first  when  she  heard 
what  I  had  done,  but  afterwards  she  said  it  did  not 
matter." 

"  How  did  she  take  the  discovery  about — about  you 
and  me?" 

"  She  laughed  till  I  thought  she  would  have  killed 
herself?" 


A  STUDY   IN   PREJUDICES.  267 

"  Laughed ! "  exclaimed  Miles.  "  She  was  not 
angry  ?  " 

"I  don't  know.  She  laughed  because  she  had  al- 
ways thought  you  so  good,  and  had  been  trying  to  make 
herself  more  worthy  of  you.  I  suppose  it  must  have 
seemed  rather  funny." 

"But  do  you  think  she  forgives  me?"  he  asked, 
wincing  under  these  matter-of-fact  words.  "Do  you 
think  she  will  ever  love  me  again  as  she  used  to  do  ?  " 

"She  said  you  wouldn't  think  you  needed  forgive- 
ness. I  am  afraid  she  is  changed  towards  you,  but  the 
state  of  her  health  may  have  something  to  do  with  that. 
She  doesn't  seem  to  care  about  anything  now.  If — 
when  she  gets  better  she  will  feel  differently  no  doubt. 
I  have  always  spoken  up  for  you,  and  told  her  that  you 
were  not  a  bad  man,  and  that  anyhow  she  is  married  to 
you,  and  her  place  is  by  your  side." 

"  But  without  love,"  groaned  Miles.  "  What  a  mis- 
erable farce !  What  an  empty  mockery ! " 


'CHAPTER  XXII. 

Mrs.  Marchmont  entered  the  sick-room,  she 
could  scarcely  repress  an  exclamation  of  dismay  at  the 
sight  of  the  fragile  creature  with  wan  cheeks  and  hol- 
low eyes,  which  was  all  that  remained  of  the  girl  whom 
she  remembered  as  the  picture  of  health  and  overflow- 
ing with  spirits. 

"  You  poor  child,"  she  said,  taking  one  of  the  inva- 
lid's thin  hands  in  hers,  "  why  didn't  you  let  your 
friends  know  where  you  were  ?  I  can't  bear  to  think 
of  your  having  been  ill  all  alone  among  strangers." 

"  Oh,  I  have  been  well  looked  after,"  answered  Cec- 
ily feebly.  "  I  have  a  regular  nurse,  and  Miles's  first 
wife  has  been  like  a  sister  to  me." 

Mrs.  Marchmont  looked  perplexed.  "Was  the  pa- 
tient wandering  ?  she  asked  herself,  or  did  these  words 
refer  to  some  mystery  to  which  she  had  not  the  key  ? 

"  Miss  Eedd  tells  me  that  the  poor  baby  died,"  she 
said  gently. 

268 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  269 

"  Yes  ;  but  it  was  just  as  well,  since  she  was  a  girl," 
replied  Cecily  indifferently.  "  The  world  is  so  hard  on 
little  girls ;  it  never  laughs  at  their  pranks,  and  says, 
'  girls  will  be  girls.'  " 

"  So  much  the  better  for  the  girls,"  returned  Mrs. 
Marchmont,  who  had  chosen  her  part.  "  They  reap 
the  benefit  in  health  and  conscience.  The  world  is 
much  harder  upon  boys,  because  it  withholds  from 
them  a  safeguard  which  they  require  even  more  than 
girls." 

She  was  silent  for  a  moment,  and  then,  as  Cecily 
did  not  reply,  she  continued  : 

"  You  know  who  is  here,  don't  you  ?  Some  one  who 
is  very  anxious  to  see  you." 

"  Oh,  you  mean  Miles.  I  suppose  I  must  see  him 
to-morrow ;  it  will  be  as  well  to  get  it  over.  But  his 
first  wife  will  look  after  him.  She  knows  how  to  take 
care  of  him  and  make  him  comfortable." 

At  this  second  allusion,  Mrs.  Marchmont  began  to 
set  her  wits  to  work,  and  by  connecting  Cecily's  words 
with  some  incoherent  explanations  of  Miles's  as  to  the 
reason  that  could  have  brought  his  wife  to  Combe  Cot- 
tage, she  thought  she  had  found  the  clue  to  the  mys- 
tery. 

"  Your  husband  is  very  penitent  for  his  past  be- 


270  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

haviour  to  you,"  she  said.  "And  he  hopes  that  you 
will  forgive  him,  and  take  him  back  to  your  heart 
again." 

"  I  don't  bear  malice,"  said  Cecily  carelessly.  "  I 
could  not  expect  him  to  be  faithful  to  me  before  he 
knew  me,  and  since  the  woman  he  wronged  has  for- 
given him,  I  am  willing  to  grant  him  absolution, 
though  he  showed  no  mercy  to  me.  But  love  is  a  dif- 
ferent matter.  I  could  love  a  publican,  but  not  a 
Pharisee." 

"  You  must  not  judge  him  as  though  he  were  alto- 
gether a  responsible  being,"  said  Mrs.  Marchmont. 
"  Men,  even  more  than  women,  are  the  creatures  of  cus- 
tom, the  puppets  of  prejudice.  Strip  him  of  his  swath- 
ings  of  conventionality,  take  away  from  him  the  sup- 
port of  public  opinion,  and  you  will  find  the  natural 
man  but  a  meagre,  shivering  little  being.  But  cover 
him  up  with  custom,  pad  him  out  with  prejudice,  and 
he  becomes  quite  an  imposing  personage,  with  small 
mercy  for  the  peccadilloes  of  the  other  sex." 

"  I  never  thought  that  Miles  was  a  hypocrite,"  mur- 
mured Cecily.  "  What  right  had  he  to  be  so  hard  on 
me  when  he  was  a  much  worse  sinner  himself  ?  " 

"  The  right  that  society  gives  him.  And  let  us  look 
at  the  matter  fairly,  since  that  is  to  your  interest  as 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  271 

well  as  to  his.  How  do  we  know  that  he  was  a  much 
greater  sinner  than  you?  how  can  one  sex  judge  the 
other  ?  Has  it  never  struck  you  that  a  technically  vir- 
tuous woman,  who  has  lived  a  fenced  and  guarded  life, 
may,  by  sinning  against  the  spirit  of  the  law,  be  as 
guilty  as  the  man  who,  yielding  to  temptation  and  op- 
portunity, breaks  the  letter  of  the  law  as  well?  Be- 
sides, the  fact  that  he  judged  you  harshly  is  no  reason 
why  you  should  judge  him  harshly,  since  two  wrongs 
can  never  make  a  right." 

"  I  have  said  that  I  am  willing  to  forgive  him,"  re- 
turned Cecily.  "  But  one  cannot  compel  love." 

"  No,"  said  Mrs.  Marchmont,  "  but  one  may  coax  it 
and  cultivate  it,  so  that  even  when  it  seems  withered 
and  dead  it  may  shoot  up  again  into  a  goodly  plant. 
Now  I  mustn't  keep  you  talking  any  longer.  Think  of 
what  I  have  said,  dear,  and  tell  yourself  that  there  is 
still  happiness  for  you  in  the  future." 

The  next  morning,  Cecily  being  none  the  worse  for 
her  interview  with  Mrs.  Marchmont,  it  was  decided 
that  Miles  might  be  allowed  to  see  her  for  a  few 
minutes.  When  he  entered  the  room,  he  was  conscious 
of  nothing  but  a  pair  of  large  dark  eyes — eyes  which 
hitherto  had  always  lit  up  at  the  sight  of  him,  but 

which  now  remained  dull  and  lifeless. 
18  \ 


272  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

"  Cecily,"  he  said,  kneeling  down  by  the  side 
of  the  bed,  "  I  have  come  to  beg  for  your  forgive- 
ness." 

"  I  forgive  you,"  she  answered  mechanically,  allow- 
ing her  fingers  to  lie  listlessly  in  his. 

"  I  was  cruel  and  unjust  to  you,  darling.  I  was 
blinded  by  my  own  pride  and  egoism,  but  I  see  things 
clearly  now.  I  know  that  I  am  unworthy  of  your 
love." 

"  Love  doesn't  depend  altogether  upon  worth,"  re- 
plied Cecily,  in  a  tone  that  struck  him  as  curiously  im- 
personal. 

"  Then  do  you  think  you  will  be  able  to  love  me 
again  some  day  ?  "  he  asked,  a  faint  hope  rising  in  his 
heart. 

"  I  don't  know ;  I  feel  as  if  the  spring  of  my  love 
were  broken,"  she  answered.  "  Still,  I  pledged  myself 
to  take  you  for  better  for  worse,  and  if  I  get  well  I  will 
keep  my  word.  I  will  come  back  to  you  if  you  wish 
for  me,  and  I  will  try  to  do  my  duty  by  you." 

Miles  shrank  back  at  her  words  as  though  she  had 
struck  him  in  the  face.  Duty !  What  a  cold  and 
empty  word  it  was  compared  with  love. 

"  But,  dearest,"  he  pleaded,  "  if  I  try  to  become  the 
man  you  once  thought  me,  will  you  give  me  no  hope 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  273 

that  some  day  I  may  win  back  my  lost  happiness — our 
lost  happiness  ?  " 

"  If  I  get  well  I  will  make  you  as  happy  as  I  can," 
replied  Cecily  wearily.  "  I  can't  promise  more  than 
that." 

"  You  speak  as  if  you  had  no  desire  to  live,"  he 
said  reproachfully. 

"  I  don't  seem  to  care  much  ahout  it  now,"  she 
answered.  "  I  have  done  a  good  deal  of  thinking  as  I 
lay  here  alone,  and  I  have  got  rid  of  most  of  my  ab- 
surd illusions.  I  have  begun  to  realise  that  it  is  far 
better  for  women  to  die  young  than  to  live  to  middle 
age.  You  see,  when  they  are  girls  they  seldom  have 
the  chance  of  being  anything  better  than  fresh  and 
pretty  bodies.  They  are  laughed  out  of  reading,  and 
discouraged  from  following  any  pursuit  but  that  of  a 
husband,  and  so  when  they  come  to  middle  life  they 
are  incapable  of  being  anything  except  worn  and  use- 
less bodies.  If  they  marry,  their  husbands'  love 
changes  first  to  indifference  and  then  to  dislike  as 
their  faces  change  with  the  years.  If  they  have  chil- 
dren, their  sons  grow  up  to  despise  them  because  they 
are  only  women,  and  their  daughters  leave  them  for 
homes  of  their  own.  Too  old  to  acquire  a  taste  for 
reading,  or  to  qualify  themselves  for  any  useful  work, 


274:  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

they  are  left  alone  to  drag  out  a  death  in  life.  And 
things  are  no  better  for  the  women  who  seek  another 
sphere  than  that  of  marriage.  If  they  follow  some 
profession  no  insult  is  too  vile,  no  mud  too  black  for 
the  men  of  that  profession  to  throw  at  them  ;  if  they 
remain  at  home  and  devote  themselves  to  gossip,  fancy- 
work,  and  district- visiting  they  are  regarded  as  human 
rubbish — mere  cumberers  of  the  ground.  Man  is  born 
of  a  woman,  but  he  always  seems  to  have  done  his  best 
to  belittle  and  degrade  his  mother.  I  begin  to  think," 
she  concluded  with  a  laugh,  "  that  the  man  in  the  para- 
ble who  had  only  one  talent  was  really  a  woman,  and 
that  she  wrapped  it  in  a  napkin  and  buried  it  in  the 
ground  to  please  her  male  relations." 

Miles  knew  not  what  to  reply  to  these  bitter  words. 
He  would  have  found  it  difficult  to  refute  her  main 
statements,  so  he  took  refuge  in  some  vague  generali- 
ties about  the  decrees  of  Nature. 

"  Then  Nature  is  a  cruel  stepmother  to  women," 
returned  Cecily,  "  and  we  owe  her  no  gratitude." 

She  turned  her  face  to  the  wall,  and  Miles  felt  that 
he  was  dismissed.  "When  he  went  down  he  found 
Khoda  in  the  hall  with  a  little  rosy-cheeked,  grey- 
headed man,  whom  she  introduced  as  Dr.  Larkin. 
Miles  waited  anxiously  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs  until 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  275 

the  doctor  had  seen  his  patient,  and  then  he  seized 
upon  the  little  gentleman  and  almost  dragged  him  into 
the  sitting-room  to  hear  his  report.  Dr.  Larkin,  a 
Scotchman,  who  had  modelled  himself  upon  Aber- 
nethy,  was  brusque  as  to  manner  but  evasive  as  to 
matter.  His  patient  was  no  worse,  but  her  pulse  was 
still  very  feeble.  There  were  disquieting  symptoms ;  it 
was  impossible  to  tell  at  present  how  matters  would 
turn  out.  Her  youth  and  fine  constitution  were  in  her 
favour.  He  would  be  able  to  speak  more  positively  in 
a  day  or  two. 

"  One  question  more,"  said  Miles,  as  the  doctor  was 
preparing  to  depart.  "Did  she — when  her  child  was 
born — did  she  suffer  much  ?  " 

"  She  had  a  sharp  time,  poor  little  thing,"  said  the 
other.  "  I  was  told  that  she  had  received  some  sort  of 
shock  just  before.  Unfortunately  it  was  not  a  case  in 
which  one  could  administer  chloroform." 

Miles  turned  away  with  a  smothered  groan  and  hur- 
ried out  of  the  house.  For  an  hour  or  two  he  wandered 
miserably  about  the  streets,  jostled  by  the  tourists  with 
whom  the  town  swarmed,  staring  with  vacant  wonder  at 
the  extraordinary  spectacle  presented  by  some  of  the 
"cheap  trippers," — the  stout  elderly  ladies  in  deer- 
stalker caps,  and  the  stunted  anaemic-looking  girls  in 


276  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

draggled  white  frocks  and  mangy  boas.  He  tried  to 
distract  his  thoughts  with  the  humours  of  the  crowd  in 
the  hope  of  driving  away  the  vision  that  pursued  him 
wherever  he  went,  the  vision  of  Cecily's  face,  white  with 
terror  and  drawn  with  pain.  For  the  first  time  he  fully 
realised  the  nature  of  the  tie  that  binds  a  man  to  his 
wife,  to  the  woman  who  sacrifices  health  and  strength 
for  his  sake,  who  risks  pain  and  death  for  love  of  him. 

When  he  returned  to  Combe  Cottage  the  report 
from  the  sick-room  was  "  Much  the  same."  Cecily  had 
seen  Mrs.  Marchmont  again,  but  she  had  not  asked  for 
her  husband,  and  now  she  was  dozing. 

"  There's  no  need  to  be  so  cast  down,  sir,"  Ehoda 
assured  her  former  lover,  for  though  he  had  often 
wrung  her  heart,  she  could  not  bear  to  see  him  suffer 
without  trying  to  console  him.  "  When  people  are  ill 
they  often  take  against  those  they  love  best  when  they 
are  well." 

"  Yes,  I  have  heard  that,"  returned  Miles,  looking 
into  her  face  with  wistful  eyes.  "  And  she  will  get  well 
soon,  won't  she  Ehoda?  You  will  save  her  for  me." 

"  I  will  do  my  best,"  said  Rhoda,  involuntarily  re- 
calling the  days  when  Miles  had  looked  into  her  face 
with  much  the  same  expression  in  his  eyes,  though  the 
boon  he  craved  was  a  different  one. 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  277 

When  Miles,  who  had  taken  a  room  at  the  nearest 
hotel,  arrived  at  the  cottage  next  morning,  he  was 
greeted  with  the  news  that  the  invalid  had  passed  a 
bad  night,  and  that  she  was  still  feverish  and  wander- 
ing. She  had  been  calling  for  him,  but  it  was  uncer- 
tain whether  she  would  recognise  him.  He  hastened  to 
his  wife's  room,  and  found  her  sitting  up  in  bed,  a 
pink  flush  upon  her  cheeks  and  her  eyes  strangely 
bright. 

"  Miles,  I  want  Miles,"  she  was  saying  in  eager,  ex- 
cited tones.  "  I  am  sure  he  would  come  at  once  if  he 
knew  I  was  ill.  I  do  so  want  to  see  him  again,  and 
hear  him  say  that  he  forgives  me." 

Miles,  with  a  thrill  of  joy  at  his  heart,  advanced  to 
the  side  of  the  bed. 

"  Here  I  am,  darling,"  he  said.  "  I  have  come  back 
to  you,  and  we  will  never,  never  be  parted  again." 

The  bright  eyes  rested  upon  him  for  a  moment,  and 
then  a  look  of  bitter  disappointment  came  over  the 
eager  face. 

"  No,  no,  you  are  not  Miles,"  she  said  fretfully. 
"  You  have  stolen  his  face  and  voice,  but  you  can't  de- 
ceive me.  I  know  who  you  are,"  she  went  on,  shrink- 
ing away  from  him  in  evident  terror.  "There  is  a 
stone  in  your  hand,  and  it  is  sharp  and  jagged.  Rhoda, 


278  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

don't  let  him  throw  it  at  me.  It  is  the  first  stone — the 
first  stone ! " 

"  Oh,  Cecily,  don't  you  know  me  ? "  said  the  poor 
fellow,  trying  to  take  her  hand.  "I  am  your  Miles, 
though  I  was  never  all  you  thought  me.  But  I  always 
loved  you." 

"How  dare  you  talk  to  me  like  that?"  cried  Cecily, 
pushing  him  away  from  her  with  all  her  feeble  force. 
"  You  would  not  do  it  if  Miles  were  here  to  protect  me. 
Oh,  I  do  wish  he  would  come,  I  am  so  tired  of  waiting 
for  him.  I  want  to  feel  his  arms  round  me  again,  and 
to  rest  my  head  on  his  shoulder.  Can't  you  send  for 
him  ?  "  she  asked,  turning  to  Mrs.  Marchmont.  "  I  am 
sure  he  would  come  if  he  knew  how  ill  I  was.  But 
make  this  man  go  away.  Don't  let  him  stand  there 
and  throw  stones  at  me." 

"  Yes,  yes,"  said  Mrs.  Marchmont  soothingly.  "  I 
have  sent  for  your  husband,  and  he  will  come  as  soon 
as  he  can.  You  had  better  go,"  she  added  in  an  aside 
to  Miles  ;  "  the  sight  of  you  only  agitates  her." 

He  stole  out  of  the  room,  and  stood  in  the  pas- 
sage, close  to  the  open  door.  Cecily  was  quiet  for  a 
few  moments,  and  then  the  wailing  voice  began 
again. 

"Miles,  I  do  want  Miles.     Why  won't  he  come? 


A  STUDY  IN   PREJUDICES.  279 

Hasn't  he  forgiven  me  yet?  I  shall  never  get 
better  till  he  comes  back  and  tells  me  he  loves  me 
still." 

Presently  the  doctor  arrived,  and  his  face  length- 
ened as  he  perceived  his  patient's  condition.  After 
administering  opiates,  and  giving  a  few  directions  to 
the  nurse,  he  asked  to  see  Mr.  Dormer. 

"  I  can't  conceal  from  you  that  there  has  been  a 
change  for  the  worse  during  the  night,"  he  said  when 
he  found  himself  alone  with  Miles.  "  The  temper- 
ature is  very  high,  and  your  wife  has  no  strength  to 
bear  up  against  the  fever  which  is  consuming  her. 
She  may  rally  again,  but  I  think  it  exceedingly 
doubtful." 

"  But  you  must  save  her,  doctor,"  cried  Miles, 
gripping  the  other's  arm.  "  You  mustn't  let  her  die ; 
do  you  hear?  I  have  been  a  brute  to  her;  I  drove 
her  away  from  me.  And  now  that  I  have  found  her 
again,  now  that  I  have  just  learnt  how  to  value  her,  I 
can't  lose  her — she  mustn't  die." 

"  You  should  have  thought  of  all  that  before,"  said 
the  little  man  irritably,  for  he  had  taken  a  fancy  to  his 
patient,  and  was  annoyed  at  the  prospect  of  her  slip- 
ping through  his  fingers.  "When  you  had  a  good 
thing  it's  pity  you  didn't  know  how  to  take  care  of  it. 


280  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

But  as  to  ill-treating  your  wife,  that's  nothing  to  make 
a  fuss  about ;  men  do  that  every  day." 

"  But  will  she  never  know  me  again  ?  "  asked  Miles, 
paying  no  attention  to  the  other's  words.  "  Shall  I 
never  hear  her  say  she  forgives  me  ?  " 

"  There  may  be  a  lucid  interval  before  the  end,  and 
then  she  will  probably  know  you.  Whether  she  will 
forgive  you  or  not,  I  can't  say." 

Before  the  end  !  The  harrowing  uncertainty  of  the 
past  two  days  seemed  positive  bliss  compared  with  the 
terrible  enlightenment  of  the  present.  Feeling  that 
he  would  suffocate  if  he  remained  indoors  any  longer, 
Miles  dashed  out  of  the  house,  and  speedily  left  the 
town  with  it  shops  and  tourists  behind  him.  On  and 
on  he  went  until  at  last  he  found  himself  alone  on  the 
edge  of  a  cliff  with  the  dull  roar  of  the  Atlantic  in  his 
ears.  "With  Nature's  usual  lack  of  sympathy  for  hu- 
man sorrow,  the  blue  sky  and  sunlit  sea  seemed  to  be 
cruelly  mocking  his  misery,  and  the  very  birds  to  be 
singing  joyously,  "  Cecily  is  going  to  leave  you  !  Cecily 
is  going  to  die ! "  He  tried  to  pray,  but  he  knew  not 
whom  or  what  to  address.  It  is  difficult  to  offer  up 
fervent  petitions  to  a  possibly  beneficent  First  Cause, 
and  he  could  hardly  expect  that  a  God  whose  existence 
he  had  always  regarded  as  more  than  problematical 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  281 

should  pay  any  heed  to  his  prayers.  Besides,  he  had 
hitherto  thought  it  presumptuous  to  imagine  that  the 
laws  which  govern  the  universe  would  be  tampered 
with  on  account  of  the  infinitesimal  troubles  of  the 
poor  little  insect  called  man. 

He  threw  himself  down  upon  the  turf,  and  pres- 
ently his  thoughts  began  to  wander  back  over  the 
incidents  of  his  short  married  life.  He  had  so  truly 
loved  his  wife,  had  meant  to  be  such  a  model  husband, 
and  had  acted  so  entirely  for  what  he  believed  to  be 
the  best,  that  it  was  strange  the  impression  produced 
by  those  reminiscences  should  be  almost  entirely  one  of 
failure  and  mistake.  He  and  Cecily  had  been  very 
happy  at  first,  it  was  true,  but  something  told  him  that, 
apart  from  his  jealous  temper,  their  happiness  could 
not  have  lasted,  could  never  have  survived  the  passing 
of  youth,  the  wearing  away  of  novelty,  or  the  approach 
of  the  stern  realities  of  life.  And  why  ?  With  whom 
lay  the  fault?  Not  with  Cecily  surely,  for  he  had 
undertaken  the  conduct  of  their  lives,  had  laid  down 
certain  rules  for  her  observance,  and  those  rules  she 
had  implicitly  obeyed.  He  remembered  how  careful 
he  had  been  to  nip  off  with  the  frost  of  his  disapproval 
the  tender  shoots  put  forth  by  her  awakening  nature, 
how  ruthlessly  he  had  extinguished  her  desire  for 


282  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

knowledge  and  work.  But  then  everybody  knew  that 
knowledge  and  work  incapacitated  a  woman  for  per- 
forming the  duties  of  her  sex.  But  did  they  ?  Was 
ignorance,  after  all,  the  first  qualification  in  the  tete- 
a-tete  companion  of  half  a  life-time,  and  was  a  wasp- 
waisted  fashion-plate  the  most  desirable  mother  of  a 
race  ?  Then  there  was  the  woman's  own  happiness  to 
be  considered.  He  knew  that  he  should  have  been 
utterly  wretched  in  the  life  to  which  he  had  con- 
demned his  wife ;  he  could  imagine  the  sufferings  that 
must  result  from  the  unsatisfied  cravings  of  a  naturally 
eager  and  inquiring  mind,  the  bitter  regret  arising 
from  the  consciousness  of  uncultivated  talents  and 
wasted  time.  And  what  right  had  he  to  doom  another 
human  being  to  such  an  existence,  simply  because  that 
being  happened  to  belong  to  a  different  sex  ?  Was  not 
life  for  women  as  well  as  for  men  a  many-stringed 
instrument,  meant  to  be  played  upon  and  not  locked 
away  in  a  more  or  less  ornamental  case  ? 

For  the  first  time  he  laid  aside  the  eighteenth- 
century  spectacles  through  which  he  had  hitherto  sur- 
veyed the  question,  and  determined  to  look  at  it  fairly 
with  his  own  eyes.  The  old  and  now  discredited  argu- 
ment that  might  is  right  and  possession  nine  points  of 
the  law,  was  the  original  justification,  he  supposed,  of 


A   STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  283 

the  present  state  of  things.  It  was  natural  enough,  too, 
that  the  average  man  should  have  been  tenacious  of  the 
privileges  he  had  acquired  by  force,  and  bitterly  jealous 
of  any  encroachment  upon  them.  But  were  men  like 
himself,  liberal  and  enlightened  thinkers,  who  uttered 
fine  sentiments  about  woman's  duties  and  woman's 
sphere — were  they  merely  puppets  who  danced  to  the 
piping  of  their  inferiors?  had  they  been  gulled  into 
accepting  as  a  sacred  tradition  what  was  in  reality  noth- 
ing but  a  vulgar  superstition  ?  Certainly  the  effort  to 
condemn  one  half  of  the  human  race  to  ignorance  and 
inactivity  must  have  been  but  a  short-sighted  policy  if 
the  poet  were  right  when  he  declared  that  men  and 
women  "  rise  and  sink  together,  dwarfed  or  god-like, 
bond  or  free."  In  that  case  it  would  be  truer  selfish- 
ness to  help  the  women  up,  to  guide  their  feet  into  the 
higher  paths.  But  then  the  ordinary  man  had  no  de- 
sire to  rise ;  he  preferred  a  comfortable  mediocrity,  and 
he  took  care  that,  except  in  the  matter  of  morality,  his 
womenkind  should  always  remain  a  step  or  two  beneath 
him. 

Miles  began  to  feel  a  humiliating  suspicion  that  his 
own  attitude  towards  women  in  general  and  his  wife  in 
particular  had  been  determined,  not  by  any  high  and 
holy  principle,  but  rather  by  a  stupid  and  ignorant 


284:  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

prejudice,  the  outcome  of  the  short-sighted  selfishness 
and  petty  jealousy  of  the  average  man. 

"Weary  at  last  of  thoughts  that  brought  him  nothing 
but  mortification  and  vain  regret  he  turned  his  steps 
homewards  with  a  faint  hope  in  his  heart  that  the  rally 
of  which  the  doctor  had  spoken  might  have  taken 
place.  Cecily  was  asleep  when  he  reached  the  house, 
and  he  was  told  that  he  might  go  into  her  room  without 
fear  of  disturbing  her.  He  stole  to  the  bed-side  and 
watched  by  her,  as  she  lay  in  the  unnatural  stillness 
of  drug-given  sleep.  On  her  eyelashes  the  tears  still 
glistened,  and  a  damp  spot  on  the  pillow  showed  how 
long  and  bitterly  she  had  wept  for  the  husband  she  be- 
lieved to  be  far  away  from  her. 

It  was  arranged  that  Miles  should  sleep  on  the  sofa 
in  the  sitting-room  that  night  in  order  that  he  might 
be  at  hand  should  any  further  change  take  place. 
Being  literally  heavy  with  grief  he  had  fallen  into  an 
uneasy  slumber,  when  he  was  roused  by  a  touch  on  his 
shoulder,  and  Ehoda's  voice  saying : 

"  Come ! " 

Only  half  awake,  he  sprang  up,  and  hastened  to  his 
wife's  room.  Cecily  was  sitting  up  in  bed  supported 
by  pillows.  The  feverish  flush  was  gone  from  her 
cheeks,  the  painful  glitter  from  her  eyes,  and  her  face 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  285 

looked  young  and  round  again.  She  gave  a  little  cry  of 
joy  at  the  sight  of  her  husband. 

"  Oh,  you've  come  at  last,"  she  said,  holding  out 
both  hands  to  him.  "I  thought  you  would.  I  have 
been  wearying  for  you  so  long." 

Miles  threw  himself  on  his  knees  beside  the 
bed. 

"  Oh  !  my  love,"  he  cried,  "  you  have  forgiven  me  at 
last." 

"There  is  no  question  of  forgiveness  between  two 
people  who  love  and  understand  each  other,"  she  said, 
nestling  into  his  arms  and  letting  her  head  fall  on  his 
shoulder. 

"Ah,  but  though  I  loved  I  never  understood  till 
now,"  he  said.  "  I  never  realised  how  deeply  I  had 
wronged  you.  In  my  blind  and  stupid  arrogance  I 
thought  myself  justified  in  thwarting  your  most  inno- 
cent and  natural  desires,  and  I  condemned  you  to  an 
existence  that  would  have  been  purgatory  to  myself. 
I  even  thought  you  unworthy  of  me,  though  I  am 
no  better  than  a  beast  by  the  side  of  you.  Even 
though  you  forgive  me,  how  can  I  ever  forgive  my- 
self?" 

"  But  I  know  you  didn't  mean  it,"  said  Cecily  softly. 
"  You  thought  you  were  acting  for  my  good  as  well  as 


286  A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES. 

your  own.  I  suppose  it  is  natural  that  men  should  be- 
lieve the  platitudes  that  the  world  is  always  dinning 
into  their  ears  on  the  subject  of  sex,  and  perhaps  it  is 
impossible  for  more  than  one  in  a  generation  to  put 
himself  in  a  woman's  place,  and  see  things  from  her 
point  of  view.  But  you  and  I  were  very  happy  to- 
gether, Miles,  and  we  taught  each  other  love.  Nothing 
can  ever  rob  us  of  that  memory ;  we  are  gods  compared 
with  the  poor  mortals  who  have  never  known  happi- 
ness, and  never  tasted  love." 

"  And  now  we  are  going  to  have  the  reality  as  well 
as  the  memory,"  cried  Miles,  clasping  her  more  closely 
in  his  arms.  "  To-morrow  we  will  begin  our  beautiful 
new  life,  all  doubts  and  prejudices  shall  be  at  an  end 
for  ever,  and  the  prince  will  give  the  princess  the  half 
of  his  kingdom." 

"  Yes ;  to-morrow  we  will  begin  our  beautiful 
new  life,"  said  Cecily,  as  she  pressed  her  cheek 
to  his.  "  But  to-night  I  am  so  tired ;  I  only 
want  to  rest.  Don't  leave  me,  Miles.  Lay  your 
head  on  the  pillow,  and  let  me  go  to  sleep  in  your 
arms." 

Miles  obeyed.  Cecily  was  soon  sleeping  like  a  tired 
child,  and  his  own  eyelids  gradually  closed.  How  long 
he  slept  he  never  knew,  but  he  was  awakened  by  a 


A  STUDY  IN  PREJUDICES.  287 

strange  sense  of  chill  and  desolation  that  seemed  to 
strike  him  to  the  very  heart.  Rhoda  was  standing  by 
his  side,  and  when  she  saw  that  his  eyes  were  open,  she 
gently  unclasped  Cecily's  hands  from  his,  and  folded 
them  upon  her  breast. 


THE  END. 


19 


APPLETONS'   TOWN  AND   COUNTRY  LIBRARY. 

PUBLISHED  SEMIMONTHLY. 


1.  The  Steel  Hammer.    By  Louis  ULBACH. 

2.  Eve.    A  Novel.    By  S.  BARING-GOULD. 

3.  For  Fifteen  Years.    A  Sequel  to  The  Steel  Hammer.    By  Louis  ULBACH. 

4.  A  Counsel  of  Perfection.    A  Novel.    By  LUCAS  MALET. 

5.  The  Deemster.    A  Romance.    By  HALL  CAINE. 

6.  A  Virginia  Inheritance.    By  EDMUND  PENDLETON. 

7.  Xinttte :  An  Idyll  of  Provence.    By  the  author  of  Ve'ra. 

8.  "  The  Right  Honourable."   By  JUSTIN  MCCARTHY  and  Mrs.  CAMPBELL-PBAED. 

9.  The  Silence  of  Dean  Maitland.    By  MAXWELL  GRAY. 

10.  Mrs.  Lorimer:  A  Study  in  Black  and  White.    By  LUCAS  MALET. 

11.  The  Elect  Lady.    By  GEORGE  MACDONALD. 

12.  The  Mystery  of  the  "Ocean  Star."    By  W.  CLARK  RUSSELL. 

13.  Aristocracy.    A  Novel. 

14.  A  Recoiling  Vengeance.    By  FRANK  BARRETT.    With  Illustrations. 

15.  The  Secret  of  Fontaine-la- Croix.    By  MARGARET  FIELD. 

16.  The  Master  of  Rathketty.    By  HAWLEY  SMART. 

17.  Donovan :  A  Modern  Englishman.    By  EDNA  L v  ALL. 

18.  This  Mortal  Coil.    By  GRANT  ALLEN. 

19.  A  Fair  Emigrant.    By  ROSA  MULHOLLAND. 

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21.  Raleigh  Westgate ;  or,  Epimenides  in  Maine.    By  HELEN  KENDRICK  JOHNSON. 

22.  Arias  the  Libyan  :  A  Romance  of  the  Primitive  Church. 

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28.  Near  to  Happiness. 

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81.  American  Coin.    A  Novel.    By  the  author  of  Aristocracy. 

32.  Won  by  Waiting.    By  EDNA  LYALL. 

33.  The  Story  of  Helen  Davenant.    By  VIOLET  FANE. 

34.  The  Light  of  Her  Countenance.    By  H.  H.  BOYESEN. 

35.  Mistress  Beatrice  Cope.    By  M.  E.  LE  CLEHC. 
86.  The  Knight-Errant.    By  EDNA  LYALL. 

37.  In  the  Golden  Days.    By  EDNA  LYALL. 

38.  Giraldi ;  or,  The  Curse  of  Love.    By  Ross  GEORGE  BERING. 

39.  A  Hardy  Norseman.    By  EDNA  LYALL. 

40.  The  Romance  of  Jenny  Harlowe,  and  Sketches  of  Maritime  Life.     By  W. 

CLARK  RUSSELL. 

41.  Passion's  Slave.    By  RICHARD  ASHE-KING. 

42.  The  Awakening  of  Mary  Fenwick.    By  BEATRICE  WHITBY. 

43.  Countess  Loreley.    Translated  from  the  German  of  RUDOLF  MENGER. 

44.  Blind  Lore.    By  WILKIE  COLLINS. 

45.  The  Dean's  Daughter.    By  SOPHIE  F.  F.  VEITCH. 

46.  Countess  Irene.    A  Romance  of  Austrian  Life.    By  J.  FOGERTY. 

47.  Robert  Browning 's  Principal  Shorter  Poems. 

48.  Frozen  Hearts.    By  G.  WEBB  APPLETON. 

49.  Djainbek  the  Georgian.    By  A.  G.  vox  SUTTNEB. 

60.  The  Craze  of  Christian  Engelhart.    By  HENRY  FAULKNER  DARNELL. 

61.  Lai.    By  WILLIAM  A.  HAMMOND,  M.  D. 

52.  Aline     A  Novel.    By  HENRY  GRJIVILLE. 

53.  Joost  Avdingh.    A  Dutch  Story.    By  MAARTEN  MAARTENS. 
51.  Katy  of  Catoctin.    By  GEOBOE  ALFRED  TOWNSEND. 

R5.  Throckm'trron.    A  Novel.    By  MOLLY  ELLIOT  SEA  WELL. 
50   Erpatriation.    By  the  author  of  Aristocracy. 
67.  Geoffrfy  Hampstead.    By  T.  S.  JARVW. 


APPLETONS'  TOWN  AND  COUNTRY  LIBRARY.— (Con tinned.) 

58.  Dmitri.    A  Romance  of  Old  Russia.    By  P.  W.  BAIN,  M.  A. 

59.  Part  of  the.  Property.    By  BEATRICE  WHITBY. 

60.  Bismarck  in  Private  Life.    By  a  Fellow-Student. 

61.  In  Low  Relief.    By  MOBLEY  ROBERTS. 

62.  The  Canadians  of  Old.    A  Historical  Romance.    By  PHILIPPE  GASpfi. 

63.  A  Squire  of  Low  Degree.    By  LILT  A.  LONG. 

64.  A  Fluttered  Dovecote.    By  GEORGE  MANVILLE  FENN. 

65.  The  Nugents  of  Carriconna.    An  Irish  Story.    By  TIGHE  HOPKINS. 

66.  A  Sensitive  Plant.    By  E.  and  D.  GERABD. 

67.  Dona  Luz.    By  JUAN  VALERA.    Translated  by  Mrs.  MART  J.  SERRANO. 

68.  Pepita  Ximenez.   By  JUAN  VALERA.    Translated  by  Mrs.  MARY  J.  SERRANO. 

69.  The  Primes  and  their  Neighbors.    By  RICHARD  MALCOLM  JOHNSTON. 

70.  The  Iron  Game.    By  HENRT  F.  KEENAN. 

71.  Stories  of  Old  New  Spain.    By  THOMAS  A.  JANVIER. 

72.  The  Maid  of  Honor.    By  Hon.  LEWIS  WINGFIELD. 

73.  In  the  Heart  of  the  Storm.    By  MAXWELL  GBAT. 

74.  Consequences.    By  EGERTON  CASTLE. 

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76.  A  Matter  of  Skitt.    By  BEATRICE  WHITBY. 

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78.  One  Woman's  Way.    By  EDMUND  PENDLETON. 

79.  A  Merciful  Divorce.    By  F.  W.  MAUDE. 

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82.  The  Tragedy  of  Ida  Noble.    By  W.  CLABK  RUSSELL. 

83.  The  Johnstown  Stage,  and  other  Stories.    By  ROBERT  H.  FLETCHER. 

84.  A  Widower  Indeed.    By  RHODA  BBOUGHTON  and  ELIZABETH  BISLAND. 

85.  The  Flight  of  the  Shadow.    By  GEOBGE  MAC!)ONALD. 

86.  Love  or  Money.    By  KATHABINE  LEE. 

87.  Not  All  in  Vain.    By  ADA  CAMBBIDGE. 

88.  It  Happened  Yesterday.    By  FREDERICK  MARSHALL. 

89.  My  Guardian.    By  ADA  CAMBRIDGE. 

90.  The  Story  of  Philip  Methuen.    By  Mrs.  J.  H.  NEEDELL. 

91.  Amethyst :  The  Story  of  a  Beauty.    By  CHRISTABEL  R.  COLERIDGE. 

92.  Don  Braulio.    By  JUAN  VALERA.    Translated  by  CLARA  BELL. 

93.  The  Chronicles  of  Mr.  Sill  Williams.    By  RICHARD  MALCOLM  JOHNSTON. 

94.  A  Queen  of  Curds  and  Cream.    By  DOBOTHEA  GERARD. 

95.  "  La  Bella  "  and  Others.    By  EGERTON  CASTLK. 

96.  "  December  Hoses."    By  Mrs.  CAMPBELL-PBAED. 

97.  Jean  de  Kerdren.    By  JEANNE  SCHULTZ. 

98.  Etelka's  Vow     By  DOROTHEA  GERARD. 

99.  Cross  Currents.    By  MART  A.  DICKENS. 

100.  His  Lifers  Magnet.    By  THEODORA  ELMSLIE. 

101.  Passing  the  Love  of  Women.    By  Mrs.  J.  H.  NEEDELL. 

102.  In  Old  St.  Stephen's.    By  JEANIE  DRAKE. 

103.  The  Berkeleys  and  their  Neighbors.    By  MOLLT  ELLIOT  SEAWELL. 

104.  Mona  Maclean,  Medical  Student.    By  GRAHAM  TRAVERS. 

105.  Mrs.  Bligh.    By  RHODA  BROUGHTON. 

106.  A  Stumble  on  the  Threshold.    By  JAMES  PAYN. 

107.  Hanging  Moss.    By  PAUL  LINDAU. 

108.  A  Comedy  of  Elopement.    By  CHRISTIAN  REITJ. 

109.  In  the  Suntime  of  her  Youth.    By  BSATRICE  WHITBY. 

110.  Sfrrries  in  Black  and  White.    By  THOMAS  HARDY  and  Others. 
110J.  An  Englishman  in  Paris.    Notes  and  Recollections. 

111.  Commander  Mendoza.    By  JUAN  VALERA. 

112.  Dr.  Faults  Theory.    By  Mrs.  A.  M.  DIKHL. 

113.  Children  of  Destiny.    By  MOLLY  ELLIOT  SEAWELL. 

114.  A  Little  Minx.    By  ADA  CAMBRIDGE. 

115.  Capt'n  Davy's  Honeymoon.    By  HALL  CAINE. 

116.  The  Voice  of  a  Floiver.    By  E.  GEBABD. 

117.  Singularly  Deluded.    By  SABAH  GRAND. 

118.  Suspected.    By  LOUISA  STBATENUS. 

119.  Lucia,  Hugh,  and  Another.    By  Mrs.  J.  H.  NEEDELL. 

120.  The  Tutor's  Secret.    By  VICTOR  CHEBBULIEZ. 


APPLETONS1  TOWN  AND  COUNTRY  LIBRARY.— ( Continued.) 

121.  From  the  Five  Rivers.    By  Mre.  F.  A.  STEEL. 

122.  An  Innocent  Impostor,  and  Other  Stories.    By  MAXWELL  GBAT. 

123.  Ideala.    By  SARAH  GRAND. 

124.  A  Comedy  of  Masks.    Bv  ERNEST  DOWSON  and  ARTHUR  MOORE. 

125.  Relics.    By  "FRANCES  MACNAB. 

126.  Dodo;  A  Detail  of  the  Day.    By  E.  F.  BENSON. 

127.  --1  Woman  of  Forty.    By  KSME  STUART. 

128.  Diana  Temptst.    By  MARY  CHOLMONDELEY. 

129.  The  Recipe  for  Diamonds.    By  C.  J.  CUTCLIPFE  HYNE. 

130.  Chri*tina  Chard.    By  Mrs.  CAMPBELL-PRAED. 

131.  A  Gray  Eye  or  So.    By  FRANK  FRANKFORT  MOORE. 

132.  Earlscourt.    By  ALEXANDER  ALLARDYCB. 

133.  A  Marriage  Ceremony.    By  ADA  CAMBBIDCE. 

134.  A  Ward  in  Chancery.    By  Mrs.  ALEXANDER. 

135.  Lot  IS.    By  DOROTHEA  GERARD. 

136.  Our  Manifold  Mature.    By  SARAH  GRAND. 

137.  A  Costly  Freak.    By  MAXWELL  GRAY. 

138.  A  Beginner.    By  KioDA  BROUGHTON. 

139.  A  Yellow  Aster.    By  Mrs.  MANNINOTON  CAFFYN  ("  IOTA"). 

140.  The  Rubicon.    By  E.  F.  BENSON. 

141.  The  Trespasser.    By  GILBERT  PARKER. 

142.  The  Rich  Miss  Riddell.    By  DOROTHEA  GEKARD. 

143.  Mary  FenicicK's  Daughter.    By  BEATRICE  WHITBY. 

144.  Red  Diamonds.    By  JUSTIN  MCCARTHY. 

145.  A  Daughter  of  Music.    By  G.  COLMORE. 

146.  Outlaw  and  Lawmaker.    By  Mre.  CAMPBELL-PRAED. 

147.  Dr.  Janet  of  Harley  Street.    By  ARABELLA  KENEALY. 

148.  George  ManderiUe's  Husband.    By  C.  E.  RAIMOND. 

149.  Vashti  and  Esther. 

150.  Timor's  Two  Worlds.    By  M.  JOKAI. 

151.  A  Victim  of  Good  Luck.    By  W.  E.  NORRIS. 

152.  The  Trail  of  the  Sword.    By  GILBERT  PARKEB. 

153.  A  Mild  Barbarian.    By  EDGAR  FAWCETT. 

154.  The  God  in  the  Car.    By  ANTHONY  HOPE. 

155.  Children  of  Circumstance.    By  Mrs.  M.  CAFFYN  ("  IOTA"). 

156.  At  the  Gate  of  Samaria.    By  WILLIAM  J.  LOCKE. 

157.  The  Justification  of  Andrew  Lebrun.    By  FRANK  BARRETT. 

158.  Dust  and  Laurels.    By  MARY  L.  PENDERED. 

159.  The  Good  Ship  Mohock.    By  W.  CLARK  RUSSELL. 
ICO.  Xoemi.    By  8.  BARING-GOULD. 

161.  The  Honour  of  SaveUi.     By  S.  LETETT  YEATS. 
102.  Kit t if  s  Engagement.    By  FLORENCE  WARDEN. 
163.  The  Mermaid.    By  L.  DOUGALL. 
1(54.  An  Arranged  Marriage.    By  DOROTHEA  GERARD. 

165.  Ece's  Ransom.    By  GEORGE  GISSING. 

166.  The  Marriage  of  Esther.    By  Gur  BOOTHBT. 

167.  Fidelis.    By  ADA  CAMBRIDGE. 

168.  lido  the  Highways  and  Hedges.    By  F.  F.  MONTR^SOR. 

189.  The  Vengeance  of  James  VansUtarl.    By  Mre.  J.  H.  NEEDELL. 


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ol  readers. 

/7  VE'S  RANSOM.     A  Novel.     By  GEORGE  GISSIKG, 

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in  any  previous  e^say.  Her  brilliancy  of  thought  and  style  is  familiar,  but 
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TN   THE  FIRE  OF   THE  FORGE.     A  Romance 
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burg  dynasty.  Its  pages  glow  with  vivid  pictures  of  the  olden  days  of 
chivalry,  and  its  characters  are  knights,  nobles,  monks,  nuns,  fair  maidens, 
and  the  patrician  merchants  whose  stately  homes  still  lend  their  picturesque 
charm  to  the  Nuremberg  of  to-day. 

A/TAJESTY.    A  Navel.    By  Louis  COUPERUS.    Trans- 
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ful woman  ;  and  if  any  other  love  story  half  so  sweet  has  been  written  this  year  it  has 
escaped  us."- — New  York  Times. 

1\/TAELCHO.     By  the  Hon.  EMILY  LAWLESS,  author 

-L'*    of  li  Crania,"  "  Hurrish,"  etc.     I2mo.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

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graph we  know.  It  is  not  a  novel,  and  yet  fascinates  us  more  than  any  novel." — 
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HE  LAND  OF  THE  SUN.  Vistas  Mexicanas. 
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Guanajuato,  Zacatecas,  Aguas  Calientes,  Guadalajara,  and  of  course  the  City 
of  Mexico.  What  they  see  and  what  they  do  are  described  in  a  vivacious 
style  which  renders  the  book  most  valuable  to  those  who  wish  an  inteiesting 
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JfERNON'S    AUNT.      With    many   Illustrations. 
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SAHIB.  With  37  Illustrations  by  F.  H.  TOWNSEND.  I2mo. 
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the  street  scenes,  the  interiors,  the  bewilderingly  queer  natives,  the  gayeties  of  the 
English  colony." — Philadelphia  Telegraph. 


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ANY  INVENTIONS.     By  RUDYARD   KIPLING 

Containing  fourteen  stories,  several  of  which  are  now  pub- 
lished  for  the  first  time,  and  two  poems.  I2mo,  427  pages. 
Cloth,  $1.50. 

"The  reader  turns  from  its  pages  with  the  conviction  that  the  author  has  no  supe. 
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n  which  none  of  his  contemporaries  approach  him — the  ability  to  select  out  of  countless 
Jetails  the  few  vital  ones  which  create  the  finished  picture.  He  knows  how,  wiih  a 
phrase  or  a  word,  to  make  you  see  his  characters  as  he  sees  them,  to  make  you  feel 
the  full  meaning  of  a  dramatic  situation." — New  York  'tribune. 

" '  Many  Inventions '  will  confirm  Mr.  Kipling's  reputation.  .  .  .  We  would  cite 
with  pleasure  sentences  from  almost  every  page,  and  extract  incidents  from  almost 
every  story.  But  to  what  end  ?  Here  is  the  completest  book  that  Mr.  Kipling  has  yet 
given  us  in  workmanship,  the  weightiest  and  most  humane  in  breadth  of  view." — 
'Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

"  Mr.  Kipling's  powers  as  a  story-teller  are  evidently  not  diminishing.  We  advise 
everybody  to  buy  '  Many  Inventions,'  and  to  profit  by  some  of  the  best  entertainment 
that  modern  fiction  has  to  offer." — New  York  Sun. 

"  '  Many  Inventions '  will  be  welcomed  wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken. 
.  .  .  Every  one  of  the  stories  bears  the  imprint  of  a  master  who  conjures  up  incident 
as  if  by  magic,  and  who  portrays  character,  scenery,  and  feeling  with  an  ease  which  is 
only  exceeded  by  the  boldness  of  force." — Boston  Globe. 

"The  book  will  get  and  hold  the  closest  attention  of  the  reader." — American 
Bookseller. 

"  Mr.  Rudyard  Kipling's  place  in  the  world  of  letters  is  unique.  He  sits  quite  aloof 
and  alone,  the  incomparable  and  inimitable  master  of  the  exquisitely  fine  art  of  short- 
story  writing.  Mr.  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  has  perhaps  written  several  tales  which 
match  the  run  of  Mr.  Kipling's  work,  but  the  best  of  Mr.  Kipling's  tales  are  matchless, 
and  his  latest  collection,  'Many  Inventions,'  contains  several  such." — Philadelphia 
Press. 

"Of  late  essays  in  fiction  the  work  of  Kipling  can  be  compared  to  only  three— 
Blackmore's  '  Lorna  Doone,"  Stevenson's  marvelous  sketch  of  Villon  in  the  'New 
Arabian  Nights,' and  Thomas  Hardy's  '  Tess  of  the  r/Urbervilles."  .  .  .  It  is  probably 
owing  to  this  extreme  care  that  '  Many  Inventions  '  is  undoubtedly  Mr.  Kipling's  best 
book." — Chicago  Post. 

"  Mr.  Kipling's  style  is  too  well  known  to  American  readers  to  require  introduction, 
but  it  can  scarcely  be  amiss  to  say  there  is  not  a  story  in  this  collection  that  does  not 
more  than  repay  a  perusal  of  them  all." — Baltimore  American. 

"  As  a  writer  of  short  stories  Rudyard  Kipling  is  a  genius.  He  has  had  imitators, 
but  they  have  not  been  successful  in  dimming  the  luster  of  his  achievements  by  con- 
trast.  .  .  .  'Many  Inventions'  is  the  title.  And  they  are  inventions— entirely  origi- 
nal in  incident,  ingenious  in  plot,  and  startling  by  their  boldness  and  force." — Rochester 
Herald. 

"How  clever  he  is!  This  must  always  be  the  first  thought  on  reading  such  a 
collection  of  Kipling's  stories.  Here  is  art — art  of  the  most  consummate  sort  Com- 
pared with  this,  the  stories  of  our  brightest  young  writers  become  commonplace."—. 
New  York  Evangelist. 

"  Taking  the  group  as  a  whole,  it  may  be  said  that  the  execution  is  up  to  his  best 
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imagination  anything  else  he  has  done." — Hartford  Courant. 

"fifteen  more  extraordinary  sketches,  without  a  tinge  of  sensationalism,  it  would 
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reader." — Boston  Times. 


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NOVELS  BY  MAARTEN  MAARTENS. 

GREATER  GLORY.  A  Story  of  High  Life. 
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"  Perfectly  easy,  graceful,  humorous.  .  .  .  The  author's  skill  in  character-drawing 
is  undeniable." — London  Chronicle. 

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"Maarten  Maartens  has  secured  a  firm  footing  in  the  eddies  of  current  literature. 
.  .  .  Pathos  deepens  into  tragedy  in  the  thrilling  story  of '  God's  Fool.'  "—Philadel- 
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...  It  is,  in  short,  a  book  which  no  student  of  modern  literature  should  fail  to  read." 
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'OOST  AVELINGH.      By  MAARTEN    MAARTENS. 

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"  In  scarcely  any  of  the  sensational  novels  of  the  day  will  the  reader  find  more 
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istic."— London  Literary  World. 

"  Full  of  local  color  and  rich  in  quaint  phraseology  and  suggestion." — London 
Telegraph. 

"  Maarten  Maartens  is  a  capital  story-teller." — Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

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CTUAL  AFRICA;  or,  The  Coming  Continent:  A 
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Land  of  the  White  Elephant,"  etc.  With  Map  and  102  Illus- 
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This  thorough  and  comprehensive  work  furnishes  a  survey  of  the  entire  continent, 
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tions. The  latter  have  included  journeys  in  northern  Africa,  Madagascar,  southern 
Africa,  and  an  expedition  into  the  Congo  country  which  has  covered  fresh  ground.  His 
boo!<  has  the  distinction  of  presenting  a  comprehensive  summary,  instead  of  offering  an 
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the  subject,  and  contains  a  large  map  carefully  corrected  to  date. 

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voy agings." — Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazette. 

"  A  new  volume  from  Mr.  Frank  Vincent  is  always  welcome,  for  the  reading  public 
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/I ROUND  AND  ABOUT  SOUTH  AMERICA  : 
•**•     Twenty  Months  of  Quest  and  Query.      By  FRANK  VINCENT. 
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"  South  America,  with  its  civilization,  its  resources,  and  its  charms,  is  being  con- 
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us  all  barbarians  is  probably  not  denser  in  his  prejudices  than  most  of  us  are  about  our 
Southern  continent  We  are  content  not  to  know,  there  seeming  to  be  no  reason  why 
we  should.  Fashion  has  not  yet  directed  her  steps  there,  and  there  has  been  nothing 
to  stir  us  out  of  our  lethargy.  .  .  .  Mr.  Vincent  observes  very  carefully,  is  always 
good-humored,  and  gives  us  the  best  of  what  he  sees.  .  .  .  The  reader  of  his  book  will 
gain  a  clear  idea  of  a  marvelous  country.  Map?  and  illustrations  add  greatly  to  the 
value  of  this  work." — New  York  Commercial  Advertiser. 

"The  author's  style  is  unusually  simple  and  straightforward,  the  printing  is  re- 
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part." — The  Nation. 

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them  photographic  reproductions.  The  printing  of  both  text  and  plates  is  beyond 
criticism." — Philadelphia  Public  Ledger. 

/N  AND  OUT  OF  CENTRAL  AMERICA  ;  and 
other  Sketches  and  Studies  of  Travel.  By  FRANK  VINCENT. 
With  Maps  and  Illustrations.  I2mo.  Cloth,  $2.00. 

"Few  living  travelers  have  had   a  literary  success  equal   to   Mr.  Vincent's." — 
Harper's  Weekly. 
"Mr.  Vince 


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D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 
TTANDJBOOK    OF  BIRDS    OF   EASTERN 

**•  NORTH  AMERICA.  With  Keys  to  the  Species,  Descrip- 
tions of  their  Plumages,  Nests,  etc.,  and  their  Distribution  and 
Migrations.  By  FRANK  M.  CHAPMAN,  Assistant  Curator  of 
Mammalogy  and  Ornithology,  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History.  With  over  200  Illustrations.  121110.  Library  Edition, 
cloth  ;  Pocket  Edition,  flexible  covers. 

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guage, with  special  reference  to  the  needs  of  amateurs  and  bird-lovers,  yet  with  an 
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America." — J.  A.  Allen,  Editor  of  The  Auk. 

"  I  am  delighted  with  it.  .  .  .  I  can  heartily  recommend  it." — Olive  Thome  Miller. 

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"  As  a  handbook  of  the  birds  of  eastern  North  America  it  is  bound  to  supersede  all 
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F 


AMI  LIAR  FLO  WERS  OF  FIELD  AND  GAR- 
DEN. By  F.  SCHUYLER  MATHEWS.  Illustrated  with  200 
Drawings  by  the  author.  I2mo.  Library  Edition,  cloth  ;  Pocket 
Edition,  flexible  covers. 

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identified,  illustrated,  and  described  in  familiar  language.  Their  connection  with  gar- 
den flowers  is  made  clear.  Particular  attention  is  drawn  to  the  beautiful  ones  which 
have  come  under  cultivation,  and,  as  the  title  indicates,  the  book  furnishes  a  ready 
guide  to  a  knowledge  of  wild  and  cultivated  flowers  alike. 

HE  ART  OF  NEWSPAPER  MAKING.  By 
CHARLES  A.  DANA.  i2mo.  Cloth,  $1.00. 

The  art  of  making  a  newspaper  that  is  read  is  one  of  which  Mr.  Dana  has  proved 
himself  a  past  master.  Those  who  follow  his  calling  will  turn  to  this  book  to  discover 
the  secret.  Those  who  read  newspapers — and  this  is  a  nation  of  newspaper  readers — 
will  feel  a  lively  interest  in  the  views  and  experiences  of  the  dean  of  American  news- 
paper makers. 

N  AIDE-DE-CAMP  OF  NAPOLEON.  Mem- 
oirs of  General  COUNT  DE  S£GUR.  I2mo.  Cloth. 

This  volume  forms  a  natural  companion  or  pendant  to  the  "  Memoirs  of  the  Baron 
de  Meneval."  The  Count  de  Se'gur's  military  career  began  in  1800.  He  was  made  a 
general  in  1812,  and  took  part  in  all  the  wars  of  the  empire  as  a  member  of  Napoleon's 
staff  or  the  commander  of  a  select  corps.  Hohenltnden,  missions  to  Denmark  and 
Spain,  the  execution  of  the  Due  d'Knghien,  the  preparations  for  the  invasion  of  Eng- 
land, Austerlitz,  Ulm.Jena,  Berlin,  Spain,  and  the  intrigues  of  FouchS  and  Heinadotte, 
are  among  the  subjects  of  his  chapters  treated  with  the  advantages  of  personal  knowl- 
edge, and,  in  the  earlier  pages,  of  intimate  information  due  to  his  father's  associations 
and  position.  The  historical  value  of  the  memoirs  is  obvious,  and  their  interest  is 
enhanced  by  the  author's  graphic  and  lucid  style. 


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THE    CRIMINOLOGY    SERIES. 

Edited  by  DOUGLAS  MORRISON. 

'HE    FEMALE    OFFENDER.      By  Prof.   LOM- 
BROSO.     Illustrated.     I2tno.     Cloth,  $1.50. 

In  "  The  Female  Offender  "  we  see  the  manner  in  which  Lombroro  applies 
the  anthropological  method.  He  examines  whether,  and  to  what  extent,  the 
female  criminal  differs  from  the  average  woman  in  bodily  and  mental  char- 
acteristics. As  a  result  of  this  examination  he  arrives  at  many  interesting 
conclusions  as  to  the  personal  or  individual  conditions  which  are  calculated 
to  turn  women  into  offendsrs  against  criminal  law. 

IN  PREPARATION. 

UR  JUVENILE   OFFENDERS.      By  D.   MOR- 


O 


/CRIMINAL   SOCIOLOG  Y.     By  Prof.  FERRI. 

V--' 

/^RIME  A   SOCIAL   STUDY.     By  Prof.  JOLY. 
\^ 

The  study  of  criminal  tendencies  is  occupying  advanced  students  through- 
out the  world,  but  the  science  has  been  carried  further  by  the  Italian  school 
of  criminologists  than  by  any  other  scientists.  The  influence  of  heredity, 
the  psychological  study  of  criminals,  the  mutual  relations  of  offenders  and 
society,  the  measures  which  society  should  adopt,  and  other  aspects  of  the 
problem,  are  treated  in  these  books  by  the  most  advanced  students  of  the 
subject.  This  series  embodies  the  most  interesting  and  suggestive  results  of 
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E 


VOLUTION    AND     EFFORT.       By     EDMOND 
KELLY.     i2mo.     Cloth,  $1.25. 

The  author,  who  has  been  so  prominent  in  the  movement  for  municipal 
reform  in  New  York,  has  written  a  book  of  peculiarly  timely  interest  which 
discusses  Evolution  in  its  application  to  the  religious  and  political  life  of  the 
day,  with  illustrations  drawn  from  recent  events  in  New  York.  This  book  is 
an  attempt  to  show  that  the  Evolution  of  to-day  is  differentiated  from  the 
Evolution  which  preceded  the  advent  of  man  by  the  factor  of  conscious 
effort ;  that  man,  by  virtue  of  his  faculty  of  conscious  effort,  is  no  longer  the 
product  of  Evolution  but  the  master  of  it ;  that  the  chief  ally  of  this  faculty 
is  religion,  and  its  most  fruitful  though  as  yet  neglected  field  is  politics  ;  that 
an  alliance  between  religion  and  politics  is  essential  to  progress  in  the  struggle 
of  humanity  with  evil  and  with  pain  ;  and  that  this  alliance  must  practice 
the  gospel  of  effort  and  not  that  of  laissez  faire. 


New  York :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  72  Fifth  Avenue. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 
r\EGENERAT!ON.     By  Professor   MAX   NORDAU. 

-*—^   Translated  from  the  second  edition  of  the  German  work.     8vo, 
Cloth,  $3.50. 

"A  powerful,  trenchant,  savage  attack  on  all  the  leading  literary  and  artistic  idols  of 
the  time  by  a  man  of  great  intellectual  power,  immense  range  of  knowledge,  and  the 
possessor  of  a  lucid  style  rare  among  German  writers,  and  becoming  rarer  everywhere, 
owing  to  the  very  influences  which  Nordau  attacks  with  such  unsparing  energy,  such 
eager  hatred." — London  Chronicle. 

"  The  wit  and  learning,  the  literary  skill  and  the  scientific  method,  the  righteous  in- 
dignation, and  the  ungoverned  prejudice  displayed  in  Herr  Max  Nordau's  treatise  on 
'  Degeneration  '  attracted  to  it,  on  its  first  appearance  in  Germany,  an  attention  that 
was  partly  admiring  and  partly  astonished." — London  Standard. 

"  Let  us  say  at  once  that  the  English-reading  public  should  be  grateful  for  an 
English  rendering  of  Max  Nordau's  polemic.  It  will  provide  society  with  a  subject 
that  may  last  as  long  as  the  present  Government.  .  .  .  We  read  the  pages  without 
finding  one  dull,  sometimes  in  reluctant  agreement,  sometimes  with  amused  content, 
sometimes  with  angry  indignation." — London  Saturday  Review. 

"  Herr  Nordau's  book  fills  a  void,  not  merely  in  the  systems  of  Lombroso,  as  he 
says,  but  in  all  existing  systems  of  English  and  American  criticism  with  which  we  are 
acquainted.  It  is  not  literary  criticism,  pure  and  simple,  though  it  is  not  lacking  in 
literary  qualities  of  a  high  order,  but  it  is  something  which  has  long  been  needed,  for 
of  literary  criticism,  so  called,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent,  there  is  always  an  abundance; 
but  it  is  scientific  criticism— the  penetration  to  and  the  interpretation  of  the  spirit 
within  the  letter,  the  apprehension  of  motives  as  well  as  means,  and  the  comprehension 
of  temporal  effects  as  well  as  final  results,  its  explanation,  classification,  and  largely 
condemnation,  for  it  is  not  a  healthy  condition  which  he  has  studied,  but  its  absence, 
its  loss  ;  it  is  degeneration.  .  .  .  He  has  written  a  great  book,  which  every  thouehtful 
lover  of  art  and  literature  and  every  serious  student  of  sociology  and  morality  should 
read  carefully  and  ponder  slowly  and  wisely." — Richard  Henry  Stoddard,  in  The 
Mail  and  Express. 


cago  Evening  Post. 

"  A  most  absorbing  book,  and  is  likely  to  displace  '  Trilby'  as  a  subject  of  popular 
discussion." — Chicago  Tribune. 

"  A  ponderous  volume  whose  every  page  is  full  of  interest.  So  full  is  it  in  detail,  so 
scientific  in  its  method,  so  irresistible  in  its  invitation  to  controversy,  that  it  must  get 
the  worlds  of  arts  and  letters  by  the  ears." — New  York  Recorder. 

"  The  intense  interest  currently  shown  in  the  subject  treated  in  the  book,  the  original 
ideas  it  offers,  and  the  imperturbable  spirit  of  the  scientific  investigator  which  animates 
and  sustains  the  author,  will  unquestionably  command  for  it  in  this  country  the  atten- 
tion it  has  received  abroad ;  and  it  may  be  safely  predicted  that  '  Degeneration ' 
already  known  here  :n  literary  circles,  is  destined  to  attain  an  immediate  and  widespread 
popularity." — Philadelfhia  Telegraph. 

"This  fascinating  and  most  suggestive  book  gives  a  picture  of  the  aesthetic  mani- 
festations of  the  times,  drawn  with  rare  adroitness,  vigor,  and  command  of  satire,  and 
it  will  be  found  to  hold  a  place  which  has  not  been  occupied." — Cincinnati  Commercial- 
Gazette. 

"  Certain  to  arouse  a  storm  of  discussion." — Philadelphia  Ledger. 

"The  interest  which  '  Degeneration  '  causes  in  the  reader  is  intense." — New  York 
Times. 


New  York  :  D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,   72  Fifth  Avenue. 


D.  APPLETON  &  CO.'S  PUBLICATIONS. 

THE    LIBRARY  OF   USEFUL   STORIES. 

Messrs.  D.  Appleton  &  Co.  have  the  pleasure  of  announcing  a  series  of 
little  books  dealing  with  various  branches  of  knowledge,  and  treating  each 
subject  in  clear,  concise  language,  as  free  as  possible  from  technical  words 
and  phrases. 

The  volumes  will  be  the  work  of  writers  of  authority  in  their  various 
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The  price  will  be  thirty  cents  per  volume. 


NOW     READY. 

HE  STORY  OF  THE  STARS.  By  G.  F.  CHAM- 
BERS, F.  R.  A.  S.,  author  of  "  Handbook  of  Descriptive  and 
Practical  Astronomy,"  etc.  With  24  Illustrations. 

"  Such  books  as  these  will  do  more  to  extend  the  knowledge  of  natural  science 
among  the  people  than  any  number  of  more  elaborate  treatises." — Cincinnati  Tribune. 

"  An  astonishing  amount  of  information  is  compacted  in  this  little  volume." — Phil- 
adelphia Press. 

'HE  STORY  OF  PRIMITIVE  MAN.  By  ED- 
WARD CLODD,  author  of  "  The  Story  of  Creation,"  etc. 

"This  volume  presents  the  results  of  the  latest  investigations  inlo  the  early  history 
of  the  human  race.  The  value  of  an  up-to-date  summary  like  this  is  especially  marked 
in  view  of  the  interest  of  the  subject.  It  is  written  in  clear,  concise  language,  as  free 
as  possible  from  technical  words  and  phrases.  The  author  is  a  recognized  authority, 
and  his  lucid  text  is  accompanied  by  a  large  number  of  attractive  illustrations. 


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IN    PREPARATION. 

HE  STORY  OF  THE  EARTH.  By  H.  G.  SEE- 
LEY,  F.  R.  S.,  Professor  of  Geography  in  King's  College,  London. 
With  Illustrations. 

HE  STORY  OF  THE  SOLAR  SYSTEM.  By 
G.  F.  CHAMBERS,  F.  R.  A.  S. 

HE  STORY  OF  THE  PLANTS.     By  GRANT 

ALLEN,  author  of  "  Flowers  and  their  Pedigrees,"  etc. 

New  York :   D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  72  Fifth  Avenue. 


952     / 


